Tag Archives: Wales

“Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan

”I’ve always been much influenced by the 17th-century metaphysical poets like Donne, and especially Henry Vaughan.” — Philip K. Dick It’s Henry Vaughan’s birthday today. I was just thinking the other day about how I encountered certain famous writers in … Continue reading

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“When the words do come, I pick them so thoroughly of their live associations that only the death in the word remains.” — poet Dylan Thomas

“[My] poems, with all their crudities, doubts and confusions, are written for the love of Man and in praise of God, and I’d be a damn fool if they weren’t.” – Dylan Thomas, 1952 Dylan Thomas was born on this … Continue reading

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November 2020 Viewing Diary

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993; d. Steven Zaillian) Popped this fave in because I was still revved up by Queen’s Gambit … I love this movie so much. Makes me cry every time. Supernatural, Season 15, episode 17 “Unity” (2020; … Continue reading

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The Books: The Redress of Poetry ‘Dylan the Durable? On Dylan Thomas,’ by Seamus Heaney

On the essays shelf (yes, there are still more books to excerpt in my vast library. I can’t seem to stop this excerpts-from-my-library project. I started it in 2006!) NEXT BOOK: Seamus Heaney’s The Redress of Poetry. Dylan Thomas was … Continue reading

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The Books: The Redress of Poetry; ‘The Redress of Poetry,’ by Seamus Heaney

On the essays shelf (yes, there are still more books to excerpt in my vast library. I can’t seem to stop this excerpts-from-my-library project. I started it in 2006!) NEXT BOOK: Seamus Heaney’s The Redress of Poetry. The fact of … Continue reading

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2014 Books Read

2014 was a good reading year. I re-read a lot of favorites, including Rebecca West’s 1200 page Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. There was a fun mix of re-reads and new stuff, of fiction and non-fiction. My year of being … Continue reading

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Snapshots

— Almost done with The Richard Burton Diaries. An extraordinary document. My God, what a mind. The diaries often make me laugh out loud, but there’s this hugely tragic keen in them, the lure of alcohol which was a losing … Continue reading

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The Books: Six Centuries of Great Poetry: A Stunning Collection of Classic British Poems from Chaucer to Yeats: Henry Vaughan

Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry Six Centuries of Great Poetry: A Stunning Collection of Classic British Poems from Chaucer to Yeats, edited by Robert Penn Warren and Albert Erskine It’s funny, I was just thinking the other day about how I … Continue reading

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“I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies, I think that’s the record . . .” — Dylan Thomas’ last words

A famous place.

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2007 Year in Pictures: “Eighteen whiskeys…”

The White Horse Tavern, Greenwich Village, NY. Where Dylan Thomas apparently spoke his last words: “I’ve just had 18 whiskeys. I think that’s the record.”

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