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Excerpt from September 1, 1939
A poem from the beginning of World War II that is not irrelevant today: Excerpt from September 1, 1939 by W.H. Auden … Accurate scholarship can Unearth the whole offence From Luther until now That has driven a culture mad, Find what occurred at Linz, What huge imago made A psychopathic god: I and the…
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Thalia
Thalia by Thomas Bailey Aldrich A MIDDLE-AGED LYRICAL POET IS SUPPOSED TO BE TAKING FINAL LEAVE OF THE MUSE OF COMEDY. SHE HAS BROUGHT HIM HIS HAT AND GLOVES, AND IS ABSTRACTEDLY PICKING A THREAD OF GOLD HAIR FROM HIS COAT SLEEVE AS HE BEGINS TO SPEAK: I say it under the rose— oh, thanks!—yes,…
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Swinburne on Swinburne
Swinburne has long been my favorite poet, and on winter nights like tonight, I love to curl up with a small glass of some choice intoxicating liquor and read some intoxicating Swinburne verse. But I am aware that there are some who do not think, as I do, that Swinburne was the greatest English poet…
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My November Guest
My November Guest by Robert Frost MY Sorrow, when she’s here with me, Thinks these dark days of autumn rain Are beautiful as days can be; She loves the bare, the withered tree; She walks the sodden pasture lane. Her pleasure will not let me stay. She talks and I am fain to list: She’s…
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The Shot Heard Round the World
Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837 By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror…
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Greenough’s Statue of Medora
Greenough’s Statue of Medora by Richard Henry Dana Medora, wake!—nay, do not wake! I would not stir that placid brow, Nor lift those lids, though light should break Warm from the twin blue heavens that lie below. Sleep falls on thee, as on the streams The summer moon. Touched by its might, The soul comes…
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Reading Poetry
Excerpt from Adam’s Curse by William Butler Yeats We sat together at one summer’s end, That beautiful mild woman, your close friend, And you and I, and talked of poetry. I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.…
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Ἑαυτὸντιμωρούμενος
L’Héautontimouroménos par Charles Baudelaire À J.G.F. Je te frapperai sans colère Et sans haine, comme un boucher, Comme Moïse le rocher! Et je ferai de ta paupière, Pour abreuver mon Saharah, Jaillir les eaux de la souffrance. Mon désir gonflé d’espérance Sur tes pleurs salés nagera Comme un vaisseau qui prend le large, Et dans…
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Plus ça change…
Penned some 18 years ago: Juvenalia/Juvenilia by a much younger Michael Hoke My thoughts unfold, the air grows cold As if it knows I’ll need the snows To quench my mental fire: My future turns—ignites and burns Through hope and fear—but leaves me here, Alas, with no desire!
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“Grab the world by its clothes pins and shake it out again….”
I can’t post the text of the poem “Shake The Dust” by Anis Mojgani both because it is almost certainly covered by copyright and also because I haven’t seen an accurate transcription, but I think this poem is better to hear than to read, anyway, so I encourage poetry lovers to listen to Anis Mojgani’s…