Denise Levertov draws on the Jacob’s dream about a stairway to heaven to capture poetry’s transcendent qualities.
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Tag Archives: Lucille Clifton
Scraping One’s Knees on Jacob’s Ladder
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Altar", "Circus Animals Desertion", "Jacob's Ladder", 9-11 poems, Denise Levertov, George Herbert, sacred spaces, Transcendence, William Butler Yeats Comments closed
Black Lives, Durable as Daisies
This previously unpublished Lucille Clifton is perfect for our tumultuous time.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "i have gathered my losses", Black Lives Matter, police killings Comments closed
What Would Lucille Clifton Say?
How would Lucille Clifton have responded to the death of George Floyd and the subsequent turmoil? I comb through her collected poems to find out.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "won't you celebrate with me", "after kent state", "jasper texas 1998", "new bones", Donald Trump, George Floyd, James Byrd, Minneapolis riots Comments closed
Elizabeth Warren, Lucille Clifton
Elizabeth Warren withdrew from the race yesterday. Her upbeat spirit can be found in the poetry of Lucille Clifton.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "wont you come celebrate with me", 2020 presidential race, Elizabeth Warren, Sexism Comments closed
You Are the Salt of the Earth
Jesus telling the disciples they “the salt of the earth” reminds me of Clifton’s poem “salt.”
Trump Uses Genocidal Language
Trump’s use of the language of ethnic cleansing regarding the Kurds is not new. Clifton’s poem about cockroaches shows how dangerous it is.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "at last we killed the roaches", Donald Trump, genocide, Kurds Comments closed
What Trump Means by Infestation
Tuesday Following Donald Trump’s latest racist tirade, this one targeting Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings and his “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” of a Baltimore district, I’m reposting an essay I wrote a year ago May. At the time, commentators had begun noticing that Trump frequently opts for images of infestation when talking about brown […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Elijah Cummings, images of infestation, racism Comments closed
Fantasy Lit Grappling with Drug Addiction
Friday Canadian author Lauren Davis has sent me her latest book, a fantasy portal quest that grapples with the problem of drug addiction. She knew it would appeal to me because of how it draws on fantasy literature, especially Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen, to explore ways of responding to this gut-wrenching issue. The protagonist […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "white lady", drug addiction, Grimoire of Kensington Market, Hans Christian Andersen, Lauren Davis, Snow Queen, suicide Comments closed
Mueller Is Our Delphic Oracle
Thursday Robert Mueller resembles an oracle more and more with each passing day. By this I mean he makes elliptical pronouncements that frustrate people desiring a clearer statement. Trump critics hoped Mueller would forthrightly state that (a) yes, the president and his campaign encouraged and applauded Russia’s 2016 election attack and (b) that Trump has […]