A Joe Fasano poem calling out “Those Who Call Themselves Christian but Seek to Divide and Conquer the World”
Author Archives: Robin Bates
On Claiming Christ While Hating the Poor
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "To Those Who Call Themselves Christian but Seek to Divide and Conquer the World", Christian nationalism, immigrants, Joe Fasano, MAGA Comments closed
“Come Out of Your Jail, Mary”
A W.R. Rodgers poem about Mary Magdalene’s “dawning” realization on Easter morning.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Resurrection An Easter Sequence", Easter, Resurrection, W.R. Rodgers Comments closed
A Partial Defense of Ayn Rand
In this Bulwark article, a writer says that Silicon Valley tech bros, while they admire Ayn Rand’s heroes, resemble more her villains.
Posted in Ayn Rand Tagged Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Elon Musk, Fountainhead, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Marc Andreesen, Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley tech bros Comments closed
The Wannabe Emperor’s New Clothes
Andersen’s “Emperor’s New Clothes” describes Trump’s con to perfection.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Emperor's New Clothes, Hans Christian Andersen, mainstream media Comments closed
For Earth Day, Resist Despair
In “Beginners” Levertov urges us to resist despair: “So much is in bud.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Beginners", "Garden of Proserpine", Algernon Charles Swinburne, Denise Levertov, Earth Day, Nature, Pope Francis Comments closed
Pope Francis: Lit as Spiritual Formation
Among Pope Francis’s great contributions to humanity was his passionate and eloquent defense of literature.
The ICEman Cometh
ICE’s attack on immigrants brings to mind Frost’s “Fire and Ice,” O’Neill’s “The Ice Man Cometh,” Stevens’s “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” and Niemöller’s “First They Came.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Emperor of Ice Cream", "Fire and Ice", "First They Came", Eugene O'Neill, ICE, Immigrant deportations, Martin Niemöller, Robert Frost, The Iceman Cometh, Wallace Stevens Comments closed
Oliver: My Work Is Loving the World
in Mary Oliver’s “Messenger,” the poet provides insight into what it means to live forever.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Each and All", "Messenger", All the Pretty Horses, Auguries of Innocence, Cormac McCarthy, Easter, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Mary Oliver, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Resurrection, Secret Garden, Tintern Abbey, William Blake, William Wordsworth Comments closed
The Shot Heard Round the World
250 years after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, immortalized by a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem, Americans once again are rising up against authoritarian rule.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Concord Hymn", American Revolution, Battle of Lexington and Concord", George III, Heather Cox Richardson, James Mariott Comments closed
