Author Archives: Robin Bates

Abdul-Jabbar on Art’s Importance

By Robin Bates | Published: August 7, 2024

In a reflective essay on art’s importance, Abdul-Jabbar talks about his childhood love of “The Three Musketeers.”

By Robin Bates | Published: August 6, 2024

The footrace in “Aeneid’s” epic games is a chaotic affair, involving some actual cheating.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 5, 2024

Watching the Olympics, I thought of the games in “The Odyssey.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Homer, Odyssey, Olympics | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: August 4, 2024

“Kamala” is Sanskrit for lotus. This Scott Bates poem on the fertility symbolism of the lotus captures some of Harris’s strengths.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 3, 2024

Jesus declared that he was “the bread of life.” These poems explore the metaphor.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 1, 2024

Harris rejuvenating the race after taking over from Biden brings to mind the myth of the fisher king.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 31, 2024

Think of Trump as Chaucer’s Pardoner, a conman who thinks he can trick people he’s revealed his tricks to.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 30, 2024

Kamala Harris’s big-hearted laugh puts her in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath territory. Trump is more like the Pardoner.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 29, 2024

To appreciate the opening ceremonies in the Paris Olympics, it helps to know some French literature.