Monthly Archives: February 2012

I’ll Never Find Out What A. Thought of Me

By Robin Bates | Published: February 8, 2012

Last week’s death of Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska, 1996 Nobel prize winner, gives me the occasion to share a wonderful poem about the mystery of what others think of us and why they behave as they do.

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Eli, the Unpromising Youth of Fairy Tales

By Robin Bates | Published: February 7, 2012

Eli Manning is like the unpromising younger brother in fairy tales who surprises his elders and takes home the gold.

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Midwife, No Doc, at Grandson’s Birth

By Robin Bates | Published: February 6, 2012

My new grandson had the birth experience denied Tristram Shandy: one where a midwife was in charge.

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A Knowledge Born of Suffering

By Robin Bates | Published: February 5, 2012

Rumi’s poem “The Lame Goat” has offered solace to those suffering from physical and emotional setbacks.

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A Child’s Murder, a Humane Vision

By Robin Bates | Published: February 3, 2012

“Troubled Water,” a 2008 Norwegian film about a horrendous crime, brings out the depth and humanity of everyone involved.

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Can Poetry Be Bad for You?

By Robin Bates | Published: February 2, 2012

The possibility that poetry can have a deleterious effect on one (the poetry of Scott and Byron anyway) is a possibility that Austen brings up in “Persuasion.”

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Singing the Miracle of New Birth

By Robin Bates | Published: February 1, 2012

“As the robin singeth after rain,” so are we all singing after the birth of my first grandchild.

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