It’s now clear that Trump, on Jan. 6, 2021, dreamed of leading his followers into the Capitol. Think of Voldemort entering Hogwarts.
Monthly Archives: June 2022
Trump Dreamed a Voldemort Moment
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged authoritarianism, Donald Trump, Fascism, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, January 6 insurrection, January 6 Investigation Committee, Vladimir Putin, Voldemort Comments closed
Mother and Son in a Daily Dance of Pain
As I lift up my mother from her sick bed, I sometimes think of Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” even though the situations are markedly different.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "My Papa's Waltz", Covid 19, Illness, old age, Parent-child relationships, Theodore Roethke Comments closed
The Underground Railway Returns
In Coates’s “Water Dancer,” we see the necessity of a reliable underground railway. We will need the same for red state women seeking abortions.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Abortion, Dobbs v Jackson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Underground Railroad, Water Dancer Comments closed
Read Lit, Then Fight for Freedom
While literature may seem irrelevant to our political battles, it provides (as Shelley points out) an invaluable human compass.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged abortion debates, Azar Nafisi, Defence of Poetry, Percy Shelley, Reading Lolita in Tehran Comments closed
Dr. Frankenstein, Birth Enforcer
Shelley’s “Frankenstein” understands issues that have arisen around the abortion debate.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Abortion, anti-abortion movement, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Roe v Wade Comments closed
David’s Music in a Time of Illness
This Hecht poem about David performing for Saul soothed my own bout with illness.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Among School Children", "Saul and David", Anthony Hecht, COVID-19, W.B. Yeats Comments closed
On Fathers & Sons & Things Fall Apart
In a recent talk with my oldest son, I suddenly realized I was replicating my father’s relationship with me. I also found myself identifying with characters in Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart.”
Poetry Helps Balance Realism & Hope
Poetry not only calls out society’s ills but offers us hope.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Speech to the Young", Audre Lorde, Edwidge Danticat, Gwendolyn Brooks, hope, Karl Marx Comments closed
