Tag: poem
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The Most Important Love Poem Ever, by Derek Walcott
Or perhaps you thought it was sacrilege when Whitney Houston sang, “The Greatest Love of All?” I admit, back in my church days I thought the sentiment of self-love was, well, selfish. It seemed anti-love to me. But even then there was something to my mother’s admonishment. Maybe your mother said it too? “How can…
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When the Bird Sings Very Close: Two Poems by Seamus Heaney
Robert Lowell, one of my poetry heroes, called him “the most important Irish Poet since Yeats.” The Belfast Telegraph claims him as one of their own, since he grew up in Northern Ireland, in the village of Bellaghy, and will now be buried there in south Derry. Dublin seems to claim him since he lived, and now…
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A Brief Defense of Flying and Failing
In Jack Gilbert’s poem “Failing and Flying”, he makes the important point that despite the common word on the street, “anything / worth doing is worth doing badly.” So I am going to stop procrastinating and just post this reading now. See, I procrastinate when I feel I don’t have time to do justice to…
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Revenge, by Taha Muhammad Ali
I usually cannot refrain from making some comment about a poem that I read or post here. Mostly it is because I love the poems I share with you and we often speak much about what we love. But tonight I want to just let this poem speak for itself. I will only add that…
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Miss Emily: We Grow Accustomed to the Dark
Suzie Grogan, the writer formerly known as KeatsBabe (sorry, Suzie, I couldn’t resist the Prince reference) has been writing about depression, recovery and art for some time now. You may remember back in October, the promotion of her book Dandelions and Bad Hair Days. I was tickled to be the voice for this Keats-lover’s poem…
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Poets Have a Tree Fetish – Reading Aloud Project, Richard Aldington
I keep getting this poet’s name confused in my head with Edwin Arlington Robinson. Richard Aldington–Arlington Robinson, I suppose there is similarity there, especially since it seems Richard Aldington’s middle name just happens to be Edward. But I think the confusion also comes from having read a poem by Robinson back in April here on…
