Category Archives: Poetry
Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain
1985. We’re in an echo chamber with a Scottish band called The Jesus and Mary Chain. Life is good. Or, we’re watching the melancholy ending to Lost in Translation, with two not so different people returning to their very different … Continue reading
“Time Does Not Bring Relief; You All Have Lied” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
If life wasn’t built on lies there might not be much of a world at all. “Life must go on; I forget just why.” Millay. More of her here (internal link) By Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950) Time … Continue reading
Excerpts from The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens
Previously, I looked at some amazing Wallace Stevens quotes in this post (internal link). Here, Stevens is more fully presented in these excerpts selected by the University of Penn. (external link). They said, “You have a blue guitar, You do … Continue reading
Sonnet / To the South Downs by Charlotte Smith
Another strong poet from when women were kept weak, Charlotte Smith had a childhood as turbulent as the landscape she describes here is pacific. She said she became a legal prostitute at 15 because she was wed off to a … Continue reading
From An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope
I’ve looked briefly at Pope before (internal link). Here, Pope addresses the critics of his days, people who did not pen anything of quality themselves but felt free to judge their betters. We might call these trolls today but at … Continue reading
Simon the Cyrenian Speaks by Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen was a noted poet from New York. John Fredrick Nims relates, “As Christ was being led to the crucifixion, ‘they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.’” Cyrene was an … Continue reading
Lord Walter’s Wife by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
To quote Thackery, “unlawful passion, felt by a man for a woman.” True, but incomplete. More like a lecture by a woman. An admonishment to a man on his duplicitous behavior and judgment when a woman expresses passion towards him. … Continue reading
An Appeal to Cats in the Business of Love by Thomas Flatman
Flatman was a lawyer, poet, and painter. He excelled at creating miniature paintings, or simply miniatures, which is a thing. Grimilkain in this poem means an old female cat. The poet admires a cat’s nature to love and leave. Society … Continue reading