An Ingrid Hagerup poem gives a future psychologist a profound insight into her quarreling parents.
Monthly Archives: November 2021
Poetry for Couples Counseling
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged domestic quarrels, Ingrid Hagerup, psychotherapy, Thor Tangeras Comments closed
Great Novels Tell Uncomfortable Truths
Tuesday I’ve written a couple of times about Glenn Youngkin’s attack on Beloved (here and here), which may have helped him win the Virginia governorship, but I want to make one final point. Because Toni Morrison’s novel is in fact social dynamite, it makes sense that those “tap-dancing” with white supremacy (that’s the phrasing of […]
Posted in Uncategorized Comments closed
No Flowers, No Leaves, November
An antidote to feeling gloomy in November is to embrace the gloom by reading gloomy November poems. I offer several here.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "November for Beginners", "November", Amy Lowell, Autumn, Depression, Rita Dove, Seasons, Thomas Hood Comments closed
Birds on His Shoulders, Faith in His Hands
In “Standard Time: A Novena for My Father,” Martinez wrestles with his doubts about whether his father is in some sense still present.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Standard Time: Novena for My Father", All Hallows Eve, death, Dionisio D. Martinez Comments closed
On Revisiting Intense Experiences
Returning to my alma mater reminds me of Wordsworth returning to the Wye River in “Tintern Abbey.” That he shares the experience with his sister makes it even more relevant.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Tortoise Shout", college reunions, D. H. Lawrence, Overstory, Richard Powers, Tintern Abbey, William Wordsworth Comments closed
First They Came for Toni Morrison, Then…
In the right attacks Toni Morrison novels, does this mean that Homer, Dostoevsky, Milton, and Sophocles are next?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beloved, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky, GOP, Homer, Odyssey, Oedipus, Sophocles, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Mixed Emotions about My Alma Mater
To understand my feelings of melancholy when I returned to my alma mater, I turned to poems by Lawrence, Housman, and Dylan Thomas.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Into My Heart an Air that Kills", "Poem in October", A. E. Housman, college reunions, Dylan Thomas, Nostalgia, Piano Comments closed
