Can birds function as emissaries from the afterlife? I’ve had my own experience, as has Lucille Clifton.
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Author Archives: Robin Bates
Oliver’s Hard-Earned Vision of Life
In which I agree with an Atlantic article defending the poetry of Mary Oliver against detractors.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Cold Poem", "In Blackwater Woods", "University Hospital Boston", American Primitive, Emily Dickinson, Lost Children, Mary Oliver Comments closed
Pratchett on the Danger of Happily Ever After
In Witches Abroad Terry Pratchett explores the dangerous power of predetermined story and how to push back against it.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Fredric Jameson, narrative causality, Peter Brooks, Salman Rushdie, Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad Comments closed
DJT Replays Scene from Dead Zone
DJT escaping his plane in a catering cart while using reporters and staff as decoys is reminiscent of a scene in Stephen King’s Dead Zone.
Helen Keller in the Garden of the Lord
In this poem Helen Keller finds the kingdom of God in her garden.
My Childhood Encounter with Wind in the Willows
In which I look back and recall the importance of Wind in the Willows on my childhood.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Piper at the Gates of Dawn", Childhood, Kenneth Grahame, Norman Finkelstein, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, wind in the willows Comments closed
Poison Ivy and the Spoon River Citizens
A recent run-in with poison ivy sent me back to the Spoon River Anthology—many of whose denizens have fair exteriors masking poison.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Edgar Lee Masters, Martha Lavinia Hoffman, poison ivy, Spoon River Anthology Comments closed
DJT as a Harpy, Befouling All That Is Good
DJT befouling all that is sacred is akin to Virgil’s harpies befouling Aeneas’s feast.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Aeneid, DJT, Old Ironsides, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Virgil Comments closed