Monthly Archives: February 2019

Feb 27 – Naomi Shihab Nye – “Famous”

Wednesday,  February 27,  2019 “I want to be famous to shuffling men who smile while crossing streets,” One of the deep blessings of writing and posting on the “Work Day/Hard Time Poetry list” often arrives as a surprise, sent to … Continue reading

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Feb 25 – Listening – tagore @ 2

Monday,  February 25, “When Thou commandest me to sing it seems that my heart would break with pride” We are a university, where people listen, take each other seriously.  When I taught full-time, some students told me one day that … Continue reading

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Feb 20 Mary Oliver – “making the house ready for the Lord”

Wednesday, February 20,    “Beautiful is the new snow falling in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly up the path to the door. And still I believe you will come, Lord” I have not posted this Mary … Continue reading

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Feb 18 – – “when we no longer know what to do . . . which way to go” Wendell Berry

Monday,  February 18 Why, I wonder this morning, have I never posted one of Wendell Berry’s poems?   He has written great and supple poetry since, at least, the early 1960s, poems and novels and essays about the land and … Continue reading

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Feb 15 – “something there is that doesn’t love a wall” – – Robert Frost

Friday,  February 15, 2019 “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense.” It’s hard to walk through a full day without hearing … Continue reading

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Feb 13 – Detroit to Boston during some messy winter days in both

Wednesday, February 13, 2019   “There will be daffodils in the Back Bay” view from my Detroit window – December 2007             Boston is my second city, after Motown. I’ve lived there 7 different times, … Continue reading

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Connie de Biase, csj, soul friend of 40 years, died this date in Brentwood Long Island, d Feb 10, 2017, c. 6:15 pm

February 10, 2019  –  “a mutual commitment to noticing” Over 4 decades of kinship, Connie de Biase and I partnered in a mutual commitment to noticing.   Now that she’s left us,  I miss her most on Saturday mornings when driving … Continue reading

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Feb 8 – – William Carlos Williams and Denise Levertov — a long generation apart, but very close

Friday, February 8, 2019 “It turns out that Williams, despite fragile health in his later years, mentored younger poets at his home. One of them was Denise Levertov, a favorite of yours.”   George Danko to jstsj  May 22, 2018 George  and … Continue reading

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Feb 6 a poem for an indoor day Wislawa Szymborska

Wednesday,  February 6, 2019 “The subject of today’s investigation is things that don’t move themselves. They need to be helped along,” I’ve been on the road: DC,  Baltimore, and a mildly harrowing connection via Atlanta during Super Bowl Sunday to … Continue reading

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