Tag Archives: poems
The History of Obsession
When I was eight years old, my parents went on vacation. I do not remember where they went, or how long they were gone, only that it was more then a weekend. My brother Max and I were left with … Continue reading
Writing At Home & Ritual
For years I wrote in coffee shops, often twice a day, with a gym and lunch break in between. Then I started commuting to work in Manhattan and the idea of writing in a crowded coffee shop instead of spending … Continue reading
Man Convicted of Killing Wife Second Time
I started reading Peter Pereira last year. His books are well written and organized, but I must honestly confess that due to personal bias, I am most attracted to his poems about language. Even though he is so well known … Continue reading
Their Lonely Betters
Recently I taught a number of Auden’s poems to my poetry class. I was very pleased by how his work was so admired by them. One student admitted that he was looking forward to tweeting several lines. Others repeated lines … Continue reading
A Piece of the Storm
Mark Strand read at the Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival in 2011. I had only sporadically read his poems before, and was not expecting much. I was thoroughly impressed and soon afterwards, purchased Blizzard of One, his book of poems that … Continue reading
The More Loving One
Sometimes you can love a poem, even though you do not identify with the sentiment. This poem, and the audio recording of it by Auden (which you can find here) is incredible in the way it alines nature and emotion … Continue reading
Bad Poems
Here is the thing, all poets write bad poems. Even my favorite poets; William Butler Yeats, W.H. Auden, Les Murray, Byron, (to name a few) wrote and published for posterity’s sake at least one or two poems that are bad, … Continue reading
Sticky Little Phrases
Sometimes I have awkward lines, that wedge themselves into my head, in a way that I cannot get them out of my brain. They come up whenever I try to start writing. One of the lines that has been stubbornly … Continue reading