Two Ash Wednesday poems, by Malcolm Guite and Julia Bates, wonder at the mystery of the creation that arises from dust.
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
How Did This Dust Learn to Sing?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Ash Wednesday", “Daughter of Ashes", climate change, Julia Bates, Lent, Malcolm Guite Comments closed
To Ljubljana, with Love
A Life in Literature: Our second visit to Slovenia and how Walt Whitman became associated with my 15 minutes of fame.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Oh Captain My Captain", Riders of the Purple Sage, Slovenia, Walt Whitman, Zane Grey Comments closed
My Son, Second Generation Lit Blogger
In which I praise my son’s second generation literary blogging.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged blogging, Charles Dickens, Christina Rossetti, Christmas Carol, Goblin Market, John Milton, Lycidas, Tobias Wilson-Bates Comments closed
Yeats’s Second Coming as Fascist Fantasy
Wednesday I recently came across an interpretation of William Butler Yeats’s “The Second Coming” that is getting me to rethink the poem. While I’ve written about liberals who believe that the Trumpian rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem as a bad thing (for instance, here and here), I didn’t consider that Yeats might actually be welcoming […]
Posted in Uncategorized Comments closed
AG Bondi as Don Trump’s Consigliere
In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, AG Pam Bondi proved herself Trump’s loyal consigliere (c.f. Puzo’s Godfather).
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Godfather, ICE, Justice Department, Mario Puzo, Pam Bondi Comments closed
T.S. Eliot, Tolkien, Gaiman, and ICE
A post associating a T.S. Eliot quotation, a Tolkien passage, and a Gaiman episode from “American Gods” with ICE’s withdrawal from Minnesota.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged American Gods, Bad Bunny, ICE, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Macbeth, Neil Gaiman, T.S. Eliot, Waste Land, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Great Trees, Apostles of the Living Light
In his book on the Transfiguration, John Gatta notes that Christ showed the God is present in all creation, not in the human part of it.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged " Transfiguration, Dante, Edwin Muir, Paradise, Sabbath, Wendell Berry Comments closed
Looking Back at a Lifetime Together
In the latest memoir installment, I look back at my marriage to Julia.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged “Here Together", "River Merchant's Wife", Ezra Pound, Marriage, W. S. Merwin Comments closed
Race Passing and Pretti’s Killers
To understand why Latino Border Patrol agents might have killed Pretti, the race passing novels of Faulkner, Roth, and Larsen are useful.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alex Pretti, Human Stain, Light in August, Nell Larsen, Passing, Philip Roth, race passing, William Faulkner Comments closed