I am reading a collection of essays by Wallace Stevens, a poet of the 20th century. His insights into what words do for us “knocks me out.” I think these few lines written about poetry suggest the relationship between poetry and philosophy. The promise of reason is that we may clarify what must be…
Slept fitfully last night, but that is not unusual. Perhaps that was due to elevated blood sugar that I measured just before my breakfast of cheerios. I’ve been diabetic for a while, and controlling blood sugar is like staying on a pitching rodeo bull. I am thrown often, and I know that I will…
If we say the idea of God is merely a poetic idea, even the supreme poetic idea, and that our notions of heaven and hell are merely poetry not so called, even if poetry involves us vitally, the feeling of deliverance, of a release, of a perfection touched, of a vocation so that all…
Continuing to think about my time at the drag strip Saturday afternoon…. Anticipation was in the air, — that adrenaline sizzle as I waited for 20 minutes in a long line of cars and pickup trucks to pay entry admission to the track. Excitement is contagious. They came out — dare I say, for…
Yesterday I visited Great Lakes Drag-a-Way at Union Grove Wisconsin. This past summer was the first year that I failed to visit the track at least once, in many summers. My first visit to a drag strip took place in my sophomore year of high school. I was hooked. I loved everything about it. The…
There is, in fact, a world of poetry indistinguishable from the world in which we live, or, as I ought to say, no doubt, from the world in which we shall come to live, since what makes the poet the potent figure that he is, or was, or ought to be, is that he…
Since becoming an adult celebrating the 4th of July has always felt strange to me. As a kid, all you had to do was offer me cake and ice cream and I could celebrate anything. No questions asked. Adulthood has meant that I cannot celebrate some things. It is a matter of knowing too…
The following is a guest post. It is a refrain on the reasoning of Paschal’s Wager. Enjoy! Standford’s Wager You should go into Suspended Animation upon your approaching death: If you believe in Suspended Animation and that someday you can be resurrected, you will be rewarded with extended life on Earth; If you do…
At mid morning we left Eagle River Wisconsin. The drive took some hours, the last segment approaching Milwaukee in a driving downpour. Reason dictated that we pull over and wait until the dark clouds overhead had passed. How many times in my life, have I dared circumstances risking serious injury or death by keeping…
Today my wife’s Aunt Clara will be laid to rest. All of us follow, in our own time. There is so much beauty within this life, in our world to be enjoyed, to give life meaning. Yet, everything passes. It is a sad prospect, but only because we are aware, able to measure time,…
