Monthly Archives: December 2021

Quiet Hopes for the New Year

By Robin Bates | Published: December 30, 2021

Merwin’s New Year poems ushers in the new year very quietly.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Wanted: Poets to Fight Climate Change

By Robin Bates | Published: December 29, 2021

To understand role poets can play in fighting climate change, go back to the Romantics and especially “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Sadly, “1984” Remains Relevant

By Robin Bates | Published: December 28, 2021

Sadly, “1984” remains relevant as authoritarianism around the world is on the rise.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Virgil Would Have Understood January 6

By Robin Bates | Published: December 27, 2021

I repost an essay on how GOP insistence on “voter integrity” is a Trojan horse designed to prevent free and fair elections.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

More Time Spent in the Covid Sewers

By Robin Bates | Published: December 26, 2021

In a repost from March, I see our Covid slog as similar to Jean Valjean trudging through the Paris sewers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Awe That Cracks the Heart’s Hardness

By Robin Bates | Published: December 25, 2021

The mystery of God’s incarnation, Levertov tells us, is that God loves us despite our arrogance.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Angels at Our Bird Feeders

By Robin Bates | Published: December 24, 2021

A Scott Bates Christmas poem about birds as ornaments–and angels–on bird feeder Christmas trees.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

A Trip through My Childhood Reading

By Robin Bates | Published: December 23, 2021

A key to the Scott Bates poem that I shared on Wednesday.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

bell hooks Saw Lit’s Liberating Power

By Robin Bates | Published: December 22, 2021

In an interchange with Maya Angelou, bell hooks agreed that literature helps us cross demographic boundaries.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments closed