Monthly Archives: January 2017

Friday, January 27 A Trustee meeting today;  off to DC for a conference tomorrow. Here is a wonderful, long-loved poem.  One version of many. Have a blest weekend, johnsj   Today’s Post  “St. Patrick’s Breastplate I bind unto myself today … Continue reading →

Wednesday  January 25 Gray days lined up one after another,  not as tough as Sunday’s dense fog you couldn’t see through even a little,  not as tough as serious deep ice/snow in Maine  . . .  but the gray lineup … Continue reading →

January 23  –  “so many years of intense partnership,” Some poems call readers out onto vast realities;  last Friday was like that,  a day for attention during  this contentious transition of my country’s political leadership.    Some poems open into … Continue reading →

Friday, January 20 Three sayings have come to mind over this week, each speaks to uncertainty and suspicion.    I think of them as poems though they were written as prose.   I have long cherished these writers as brave … Continue reading →

Wednesday January 18  –  The signs that divide us – both literal and metaphorical – have often targeted people of color.   This was especially true during the era of segregation.  Wherever one went, particularly in the South, placards reading “for … Continue reading →

pre-note: I am honored that the “Work Day/Hard Time”  Poetry list can host the Martin Luther King Week/Black History Month Planning as a guest team this week.   Immediately below you will find Professor Roy Finkenbine’s explanation and of this Monday … Continue reading →

Thursday,  January 12   – “I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular,” “Stock”   –  August 27, 1949 – January 12, 2016 Someone, last January, introduced me to today’s  Mary … Continue reading →

Monday January 9 -“Drunk with the joy of singing” What poem might speak to the courage and hope and anxiety that stirs a university campus at the dawn of Term 2 —  —  after the holy day intimacies, visiting,  eating … Continue reading →

Friday, January 6 On November 21, Monday of Thanksgiving Week, I published the poet Ray Carver for the first time,  a new voice for me.  That morning I introduced the post thus:   “I found a new poet for the occasion. … Continue reading →

Wednesday, January 4  – “just average changes” Our campus is gradually waking into 2017;  staff and faculty arrived yesterday, classes on the main campus begin next Monday.  One year ago today, I posted this poem, sent by Mary Ann Buckley, … Continue reading →