Charles Dickens, like all great artists knew that simply describing the idea of generosity would never move hearts or change lives. Rather, he wanted his readers of A Christmas Carol to feel and experience first hand the heart and soul-redeeming joy of helping others, while also experiencing the soul-starving, heart-breaking sadness and alienation of a…
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My sister’s favorite holiday was Thanksgiving. Maybe it was genetic. Our mother loved that holiday as well. My sister made a habit of inviting people for Thanksgiving she knew would, of course, enjoy a tasty meal. But it was more than that. What she wanted to give was a critical dose of belonging and community….
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There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change… We quickly recognize what poet William Stafford is getting at in these two opening lines of his poem, “The Way It Is.” Of course, we each want to live by this thread he is describing. After all, it is our…
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Have you ever had a feeling of numbness around a part of your body you identified as your soul? A kind of bone-deep sadness and weariness. I feel that now. Of course, I could tell you about events in my life. But remembering how the poet, Mary Oliver once put it I know many could…
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Who can deny the political strife and civil coarseness of our times? And have you seen Al Gore’s new film about the latest ravages of climate change? What about the white supremacists marching in the streets of Charlottesville and the young woman who died that day? And yet, that is not all the news. There…
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Be warned, poetry has its downsides and its wild sides. It may seem innocent enough, but like a calm ocean, it can produce sneaker waves you’ll never see coming. Of course, some poetry instantly puts us off because of its ambiguity or paradoxically because of its offending clarity. These poems are easy to spot however,…
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“Poems we love are just songs we must sing again and again.” –dale biron As an average or even avid reader of poems, we should know how badly we are outmatched. It’s not fair how poems say what they don’t mean one minute, then mean what they don’t say the next. Writers of poems are surely on to…
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The half-life of my courage can be short. I need small, consistent boosts of inspiration. Poems work well! –Dale Biron For many friends and loved ones, this is a time of deep cultural anxiety. There is a feeling that this time it’s more than simply partisan bickering, but that the fabric of our very democracy…
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