Blake’s “The Grey Monk” captures everything that’s wrong about Trump’s Venezuela invasion.
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Blake on Venezuelan Kidnapping
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Grey Monk", Donald Trump, Nicolás Maduro, tyranny, Venezuela invasion, violence, William Blake Comments closed
A Stable: Good Place for Revelations
Godfrey Rust’s Feast of the Epiphany poem reveals love to be at the center of creation.
Posted in Uncategorized Comments closed
Using Lit to Grapple with Racism
In which I look back at how I’ve grappled with racism over the years, along with the books that have helped me do so.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "note to self", Invisible Man, Lucille Clifton, Morehouse College, racism, Ralph Ellison, St. Mary's College of Maryland Comments closed
Two Family Poems for the New Year
Edgar Guest and Li-Young Lee capture our family gathering of this past week, both the joy of being together and the memories of those we have lost.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged “Family Gathering", “Stick-Together Family", “Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening", Christmas, Edgar Guest, family reunions, Li-Young Lee, Robert Frost Comments closed
Big Beautiful Bill, Perfect in Its Rottenness
The GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill” was perfect in its rottenness in the same way that William Carlos Williams’s rotten apple is perfect.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Hellas: A Chorus", "Ode to the West Wind", “Shine Perishing Republic, American decadence, Big Beautiful Bill, GOP, Percy Shelley, Perfection, Robinson Jeffers, William Carlos Williams Comments closed
ICE Misuses Charlotte’s Web
If the devil can quote the scriptures to his purpose, so can ICE quote “Charlotte’s Web.” In fact, the book is antithetical to ICE values.
On Losing a Beloved Brother
Looking back over 2025, I think of my late brother in light of “The Three Musketeers.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alexander Dumas, Man in the Iron Mask, Three Musketeers Comments closed
Shelley Has Helped Me Understand God
Note: If you wish to receive, via e-mail, (1) my weekly newsletter or (2) daily copies of these posts, write to me at rrbates1951@gmail.com. Comments may also be sent to this address. I promise not to share your e-mail with anyone. To unsubscribe, write here as well. Sunday For this week following Christmas, I am reposting […]
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My Blog as Modernist Project
I repost an essay where I describe by blog and book as a Modernist project, using fragments to “shore up against my ruins” (Eliot’s Waste Land).
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Bell Jar, Bourgeois Gentilhomme, modernism, Molière, Sylvia Plath, T.S. Eliot, Waste Land Comments closed