One of the first news items of the day was that Donald Hall has passed. The poet died on Saturday at his home in New Hampshire. He will be missed by many. If you are interested here is the NY Times ARTICLE on his life and work. A poem by Donald Hall: Affirmation To…
This morning I received a short, two lines of email from a friend. He commented that he was “somewhat troubled by the Presidents apparent lack of humility.” I composed a brief reply which I sent to him privately without including the rest of the group of recipients. Each of us is an individual caught…
I was asked by Melanie as she handed my coffee to me what I was working on this morning. I said, “I do not know. Something will come to me.” She smiled. I glanced at the front page of the New York Times. The Newspaper stand is adjacent to the counter for coffee additives,…
This morning I was delighted to locate on my shelf a text book from my college days. I was introduced to the words of the Tao te Ching from A Source Book In Chinese Philosophy by Wing-Tsit Chan. I’ve not opened the book in many years. Finding it was like receiving a phone call…
I was asked to read some poems last night. A gathering was sponsored by the Mundelein Arts Council at Taste of Paris. Musicians from the area and several writers were given opportunity to perform in public. I found my imagination going back to the late bronze age. Certainly members of the aristocracy and their…
IV Time and the bell have buried the day, The black cloud carries the sun away. Will the sunflower turn to us, will the clematis Stray down, bend to us; tendril and spray Clutch and cling? Chill Fingers of yew be curled Down on us? After the kingfisher’s wing Has answered light…
The rage of Achilles—sing it now, goddess, sing it through me the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters, leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished. Begin at the time…
I propose a festival to celebrate the fecundity of ignorance. It is to ignorance that a teacher will come. Ignorance is our natural condition. A three year old child will dash headlong, careening through the hallways, delighted with the sensation of his/her play. The child is responding to curiosity of mind and body– learning…
Yesterday was Good Friday. I took a rare weekday off from the office. Since Jesus died inconveniently, ignominiously on a Friday, it seemed right to take the day to consider the way of his journey, and of mine. Do we not all die? Birth and death are momentous events that we all have in…
What an evening at Starbucks! The long table at the end of the room was full. Over an hour and a half of impassioned exchange of ideas followed. The conversation was in the main about the “great chain of being” with a segue into Mandelbrot fractals, a demonstration of which we enjoyed from Gary’s…
