A visit to artist friends in Assisi revealed a luminescent world and brought to mind Thomas Gray’s “Elegy on a Country Churchyard.”
Author Archives: Robin Bates
Art Takes Us into a Luminescent World
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alan Feltus, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Lani Irwin, Thomas Gray Comments closed
Rushdie on Dreams That Refuse to Die
While “Midnight’s Children” may apply only too closely to Trump-led America, there’s some room for hope in it as well.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Election 2024, Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie Comments closed
The Courage to Find Hope Within
A recent poem about hope–which many of us need at the moment.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Courage to Find Hope Within", Election 2024, hope, Nicolee Grant Comments closed
Soldiers: Citizens of Death’s Grey Land
A poem by World War I vet Siegfried Sassoon describing soldiers as dreamers.
On Christians Who Devour the Poor
Richard Crashaw calls out those religious leaders who, like the pampered scribes attacked by Jesus, devour widows’ houses. We’ve got our own hypocritical Christians today.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Two Mites", Hypocrisy, prosperity theology, Richard Crawshaw, wealth inequality Comments closed
The Political Results of Collective Amnesia
Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” describes the kind of amnesia following a traumatic incident that may help explain one of the reasons why Trump beat Biden.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Covid, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie Comments closed
Stop the Clocks: This Is the Hour of Lead
Auden’s mourning poem “Stop All the Clocks” captures the mood of those who saw a fascist triumph in the American presidential election.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "After great pain a formal feeling comes", "Stop All the Clocks", Donald Trump, Election 2024, Emily Dickinson, Kamala Harris, King Lear, W. H. Auden, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Caliban Defeats Prospero
It’s Prospero vs. Caliban in America, with Caliban having a very good chance of triumphing.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Election 2024, Kamala Harris, Shakespeare, Tempest Comments closed
America: Indivisible Despite the Divides
As the American election hangs in the balance, Alicia Ostriker holds two contradictory visions of America in balance.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "I Too Sing America", "Ghazal America the Beautiful, Alicia Ostriker, America the Beautiful, American Dream, Langston Hughes, Midsummer Night's Dream, Patriotism, Star Spangled Banner, William Shakespeare Comments closed
