Tag Archives: poetry

“Horseman Pass By”: Happy Birthday, William Butler Yeats

Posted on June 13, 2013 by sheila

William Butler Yeats was born today in 1865. Yeats is a great poet and all that, but I grew up pretty much “over” him because he was omnipresent in our household. We were made to memorize his epitaph in order … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Gwendolyn Brooks

Posted on June 7, 2013 by sheila

I think I first encountered Gwendolyn Brooks’s stuff in Humanities in high school (her most famous is, perhaps, “We Real Cool”). We Real Cool The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk … Continue reading →

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To Autumn, Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

Posted on September 22, 2012 by sheila

I am not a summer girl. I wilt in the summer. Fall is my season. I was born in the fall. With the first breath of crispness in the air, I start to regulate back to my normal self. In … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Mary Oliver

Posted on September 10, 2012 by sheila

Although few poets have fewer human beings in their poems than Mary Oliver, it is ironic that few poets also go so far to help us forward. – Stephen Dobyns, New York Times Book Review I don’t know much about … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Percy Bysshe Shelley

Posted on August 4, 2011 by sheila

Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on this day in 1792. Shelley, along with his BFF Lord Byron, thumbed their nose at the commonplaces of their current era, and he (even more so than Byron) appeared to court controversy from … Continue reading →

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The Books: The Kingdom of the Subjunctive, by Suzanne Wise

Posted on April 5, 2011 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry: The Kingdom of the Subjunctive, poems by Suzanne Wise I love Suzanne Wise’s poems because they’re droll and cavalier, magnificent and terrified, all at once. With all the invisible poise of masculinity – which she doesn’t … Continue reading →

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The Books: Zero Meridian, by Deborah Warren

Posted on April 2, 2011 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry: Zero Meridian: Poems (New Criterion), poems by Deborah Warren The formation of a writer occurs in many ways, but a fine teacher can reveal a poet in the way a sculptor finds the statue within the … Continue reading →

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The Books: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley

Posted on April 1, 2011 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry: Selected Poetry And Prose Of Shelley This is a nice comprehensive volume. I have a second-hand copy, and it includes all of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s most famous poems, as well as excerpts from Prometheus Bound and … Continue reading →

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The Books: The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton

Posted on March 31, 2011 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry. Next book on the shelf: The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton “I hold back nothing.” — Anne Sexton, 1969 When you read the Complete Poems, you can feel her sliding off the rails at the end (I’m … Continue reading →

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The Books: The Essential Rumi

Posted on March 27, 2011 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry. Next book on the shelf: The Essential Rumi, translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne Ptolemy Tompkins wrote in Time Asia Edition on September 30, 2002 Jalaluddin Rumi was, among many other things, a lover of … Continue reading →

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