Ever since Barack Obama was elected, we’ve been hearing claims that his presidency is illegitimate. Any number of people—including some who should know better—are draping themselves in revolutionary garb. This includes those responsible for the Republicans’ recent Pledge to America, where the authors declare “the governed do not consent.” The reference, of course, is to the […]
Tag Archives: Scott Bates
A Poem for Those Who Love to Read
My father is a master of light comic verse, a genre often not taken seriously by literature departments. The ability to lift the spirits, however, is a precious gift that should not be underestimated. The following poem, about a lover of reading, is a reference to Jesus’s instructions (in Mark 4:21-22) that we not […]
A Whale Poem to Lift the Spirits
A Scott Bates whale poem to lift your spirits.
Fiery Speech in a World of Shadows
Film Friday I owe my love of film to my father, who for years ran the “Cinema Guild” at the University of the South/Sewanee. When I wrote two weeks ago about Meet Me in St. Louis, my father talked about seeing the film as a G. I. in Europe. “We saw the film as directed […]
Bread (Pretzels) and (Super Bowl) Circuses
Bread and circuses. That was the accusation of the Roman satirist Juvenal, directed against those politicians who used free bread and gladiatorial contests to divert the populace’s mind from their political responsibilities. Today our diversions continue to occur in coliseums and arenas. I plead guilty to having been so diverted. These past […]
The Birds of War-Torn Afghanistan
I share today a poem by my father Scott Bates, who is an ardent birdwatcher as well as poet. The poem reminds us of an ongoing war that too often we want to push out of our minds. Through contrasting the natural world with the disasters created by humans, my father expresses his longing for […]
The Children’s Books that Shaped Me
The poem I printed by my father in my last post provides a good map of the books and poems that he used to read to me and my brothers. In case there were any works that you do not recognize, here’s a key: –Leerie is “The Lamplighter” in Robert Lewis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden […]
Books Unleashed in Christmas Carrels
On this Christmas day, I want to acknowledge one of the greatest gifts I ever received from my parents: my love of reading. Both are voracious readers, and my father (Scott Bates) would read to me and my brothers every evening. This included, for each of us, both a story or chapter and a poem. […]
