Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

A Wordsworth Thanksgiving Poem

By Robin Bates | Published: November 22, 2023

In which I read Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” as a Thanksgiving poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

On Black Friday, Stay Focused

By Robin Bates | Published: November 25, 2022

In “Ceremony,” Leslie Marmon Silko warns what can happen if we let commercialization blind us to our real gifts. It’s a good lesson for Black Friday.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Gratitude, as Explained by Milton

By Robin Bates | Published: November 23, 2022

Visiting Milton’s hymns of gratitude in “Paradise Lost” are one way of celebrating Thanksgiving.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

Lift We Up Our Songs of Praise

By Robin Bates | Published: November 24, 2021

Dunbar has a luminescent Thanksgiving poem, which is all the more impressive given the racism he faced as a Black man.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Joys Are Snowflakes, They Drift and Stray

By Robin Bates | Published: November 24, 2020

Hungarian poet Reményik Sándor reminds us to be thanking for the tiny sonders that we encounter from day to day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

This World Is Not Altogether Bad

By Robin Bates | Published: November 27, 2019

Poet Mike Hazard captures the joy of a homeless man on his way to a Thanksgiving feast.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

At This Table, We Give Thanks

By Robin Bates | Published: November 22, 2018

Joy Harjo takes us to her kitchen table in a poem that, while giving thanks, complicates Thanksgiving by facing up to the bad as well as the good.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

A Time for Laughter & Sharing of Pleasures

By Robin Bates | Published: November 23, 2017

Kahlil Gibran’s “Friendship” makes for a great Thanksgiving poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

Thanksgiving in the Age of Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: November 23, 2016

Thanksgiving this year may encounter the strains of the recent election. For a depiction of how bad it can get, check out the Christmas dinner scene in “Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.” It will show you what to avoid.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed