1. If nothing else, it's a relief to actually have an election that ended 'clean'. No talk of cheating or collusion, no 'too close to call', just a clear outcome arrived at in the space of a single night. Seems to me that used to be the norm, once upon a time. 2. I really … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: In Which I Critique Both Walt Whitman and Muhammed, but Mostly the Former
Poetry
Poem – “I Hear America Singing”
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;Those of mechanics - each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank and beam;The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat - the deckhand … Continue reading Poem – “I Hear America Singing”
Poem – “The Witches’s Spell”
Round about the cauldron go;In the poison'd entrails throw.Toad, that under cold stoneDays and nights has thirty-oneSwelter'd venom sleeping got,Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. Double, double toil and trouble;Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake,In the cauldron boil and bake;Eye of newt and toe of frog,Wool of bat and tongue … Continue reading Poem – “The Witches’s Spell”
Poem – “The Planets”
Lady LUNA, in light canoe,By friths and shallows of fretted cloudlandCruises monthly; with chrism of dewsAnd drench of dream, a drizzling glamour,Enchants us–the cheat! changing sometimeA mind to madness, melancholy pale,Bleached with gazing on her blank count’nanceOrb’d and ageless. In earth’s bosomThe shower of her rays, sharp-feathered lightReaching downward, ripens silver,Forming and fashioning female brightness,–Metal … Continue reading Poem – “The Planets”
Poem – “The Hag”
The Hag is astrideThis night for to ride,The Devill and shee together;Through thick and through thin,Now out and then in,Though ne'er so foul be the weather. A Thorn or a BurrShe takes for a Spurre, With a lash of a Bramble she rides now;Through Brakes and through Briars,O'er Ditches and Mires,She follows the Spirit that … Continue reading Poem – “The Hag”
Poetry – “Acquainted with the Night”
I have been one acquainted with the night.I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane.I have passed by the watchman on his beatAnd dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. I have stood still and stopped the sound of feetWhen far … Continue reading Poetry – “Acquainted with the Night”
Poetry – “Sonnet 57”
Being your slave, what should I do but tendUpon the hours and times of your desire?I have no precious time at all to spend,Nor services to do, till you require.Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hourWhilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,Nor think the bitterness of absence sourWhen you have bid your servant … Continue reading Poetry – “Sonnet 57”
Poem – “The Donkey”
When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil's walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride … Continue reading Poem – “The Donkey”
Poem – “Fact and Fancy”
How dull the wretch, whose philosophic mindDisdains the pleasures of fantastic kind;Whose prosy thoughts the joys of life exclude,And wreck the solace of the poet’s mood!Young Zeno, practic’d in the Stoic’s art,Rejects the language of the glowing heart;Dissolves sweet Nature to a mess of laws;Condemns th’ effect whilst looking for the cause;Freezes poor Ovid in … Continue reading Poem – “Fact and Fancy”
Poem – “On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations”
You'll wait a long, long time for anything muchTo happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloudAnd the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.The planets seem to interfere in their curvesBut nothing ever happens, no … Continue reading Poem – “On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations”
Serpent's Den 