Monthly Archives: August 2015

Monday, August 31  –  “  . . .  How big is my heart, I wonder?” I’d looked at two or three poems before this one ran into me.  Bam!  So precise, so demanding.   When this poem met me, it … Continue reading →

Thursday,  August 27 –    “Observing all things  —  With dispassion  —  But remembering well” Sometimes it happens that browsing new poetry changes you.  This morning’s browsing did that.   I am preparing tomorrow’s post today;  tomorrow, I will be … Continue reading →

Wednesday August 26    —  “the soul laughs . . . “ It’s not difficult to hear brutally contentious and contemptuous language flung about in the world’s various public forums.  At the moment, too, it’s hard to avoid other signs … Continue reading →

Monday August 24 –  “to face in the wind’s teeth”             About 35 new freshmen arrived in the residence halls yesterday.    They came early to travel together to a retreat center outside the city for a 2 day retreat, … Continue reading →

Monday August 17 – “All this tripping about” Catherine McAuley Getting very busy around the university; lots of fast walking and flipping from thought to thought and task to task. Except today when President’s Convocation opens a space to tell … Continue reading →

Friday August 14  –you recommended kind words to be the best type of alms for Muslims to give.”  At UDM’s 2014 Celebrate Spirit mass of blessing, Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz  welcomed us into our academic year by reading one of her poems (https://sites.udmercy.edu/poetry/2014/09/12/sept-12-this-years-poet-at-celebrate-spirit-fatemeh-keshavarz/).  A poet … Continue reading →

Wednesday, August 12, 2015  –  mid-week in mid-August The poetry itself, with its compelling sharp-edge words, won’t clunk.  That’s the point of reading strong poems out loud, with pauses: to create in your ear and imagination a moment of sheer … Continue reading →

Monday August 10  —  “Through you we eat sunlight” I had another poem queued up for today but Laura Grace Weldon’s song to a Rutabaga took my imagination by storm.   Your’s too, I hope. Read aloud, more than once, … Continue reading →

Wednesday August 5  “right behind the grill where,  .  .  .  she would block no one’s view” Someone this summer introduced me to the poet Irene Zimmerman, O.S.F. through her poem “Woman Un-Bent,” about a woman who could not stand … Continue reading →

Monday August 3  – Another beginning for a year of grace and work The first post of 2015-16; lots of options.  Some friends have found summer times to notice poems that had been asking for attention.   Readers will encounter … Continue reading →