Monthly Archives: December 2013

2013 Melts Away

A John Clare poem to bid farewell to 2013.

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Standing in a Long Unemployment Line

Poet Philip Levine knows what it is to stand in a long line looking for work.

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In the Beginning Was the Word

The opening of the Book of John is poetry of the first order.

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The Return of King Peyton

The excitement over Peyton Manning is like that of the townspeople for Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit.”

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Unemployment & “the Undeserving Poor”

Are those who will lose unemployment insurance tomorrow deserving or undeserving of support? George Bernard Shaw has something to say about that.

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Christmas Bird Count from Santa’s Sleigh

This joyous Scott Bates birdwatching poem imagines Santa’s Blitzen involved in Audubon’s annual tally.

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Where Are the Games of Yesteryear?

Christmas I shared “Ballad of the Games of Yesteryear” this past spring when my father temporarily lapsed into dementia. But he wrote it as a Christmas poem and so I’m posting it again as I mourn the first Christmas spent without him. Now that he is dead, the poem contains special meaning, echoing as it […]

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Dickens, We Need You (and Also FDR)

With unemployment insurance set to run out next week, it’s time to invoke Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol.” FDR did so.

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Duck Dynasty Patriarch as Pap Finn

Patriarch Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” shares certain characteristics with Pap Finn.

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