Poetry
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The most widely-known as well as the most notorious poem of the second half of the twentieth century is Philip Larkin's "This Be the Verse." For those of you who don't know the poem by heart, here it is in its brief and startling entirety. They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They…
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As a rule, I'm as fickle as the legendary varying flag, but just now I have made a firm unwavering commitment. My absolutely most favorite line of poetry — are you ready now, readers — is (drumroll)l: "If you really want my peaches, gotta shake my tree." Is that poetry or what? It's teasingly inexplicit…
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It wasn't until I reached college that discovered poetry. My comic-book super-hero and baseball-infused brain was until then, poetry-wise, an almost complete tabula rasa. I say "almost" because at eight or nine eight years old I had memorized two great classics of American literature: "Casey at the Bat" and also the poem by Grantland Rice about Tinkers, Evers, and Chance. In additon, I knew…
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Ain't it shocking that Gene Chandler's excellent song is now almost half a century old? Seems like just yesterday. This be the verse in its full splendor. Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke,…
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Our property adjoins the old West Bradford cemetery. The two- or three-acre plot of ground is the most visible remnant of the dairy, sheep and apple community of West Bradford, which was hacked out of the steep slopes above the Connecticut river in the first part of the nineteenth century, peaked before the Civil War,…
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-I- You were basking in what seems a great spot. I am most jealous of your salad under the palm trees. I do not want to raise expectations about feelings and things. You are special and unique and fabulous in a whole host of ways. I will write you…
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Sylvia Plath's "Nick and the Candlestick," a scalpel of a poem, is exasperating in its details but crystal clear in "plot" and feeling. Here it is in its entirety. Read it through; don't be alarmed if it seems impenetrable or opaque; it's not. Or not entirely so. I am a miner. The light burns blue.Waxy stalactitesDrip…
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Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" condenses centuries of tangled racial strife into a brief lyric. The song begins in rural, impoverished, perhaps southern, America: "I was born by the river, in a little tent." Then, with a glance at the old man river who just keeps rolling, it alludes to African-Americans as on-the-lam…
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I'm enchanted that our new president chose to cite — or "sample" as they say in the world of pop music — one of my favorite, and one of the most important of the songs of the 1960s. Here's the borrowed sentiment, delivered in Chicago on November 4, just after Obama cleared the electoral hurdle:…
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Ain't it shocking that Gene Chandler's excellent song is now almost half a century old? Seems like just yesterday. This be the verse in its full splendor. Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke,…