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- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
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- Lyrie on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
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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
“Out of the inevitable conflict of images – … the womb of war – I try to make that momentary peace which is a poem.” — 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
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Camille Paglia, Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop, Michael Schmidt, Philip Larkin, poetry, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Wales
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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
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Bill Murray, Bong Joon-Ho, comedy, documentary, drama, Dylan Thomas, England, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia, sci-fi, South Korea, Spike Lee, sports movies, Supernatural, Wales, war, X-Files
6 Comments
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
Posted in Books
Tagged Dylan Thomas, essays, Ireland, poetry, Seamus Heaney, The Redress of Poetry, Wales
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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
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, Ireland, poetry, Seamus Heaney, The Redress of Poetry, Wales
4 Comments
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
Posted in Books
Tagged 1984, Amongst Women, Anjelica Huston, August Strindberg, books read, E.B. White, England, Evelyn Waugh, friends, George Orwell, Henry James, In Cold Blood, Inherent Vice, Ireland, John Cassavetes, John McGahern, Love Streams, Mark Helprin, Mark Twain, Patrick O'Brian, Rebecca West, Roger Angell, Seamus Heaney, Sweden, Truman Capote, Wales, war
9 Comments
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
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
Posted in Books
Tagged Madeleine L'Engle, poetry, Ring of Endless Light, Six Centuries of Great Poetry, Wales
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“I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies, I think that’s the record . . .” — Dylan Thomas’ last words
A famous place.
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.”