"Purgatory" by Maxine Kumin : Poem Hunter

Read this poem in which its author looks at William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in a new light: "Purgatory" by Maxine Kumin

Maxine W. Kumin : The Poetry Foundation

13 Things You Didn’t Know About the Titanic

Read 13 Things You Didn’t Know About the Titanic: For the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking, we bring you surprising bits of trivia and Titanic facts you've never heard.

["In the month of February"] by a Poet Unknown

In the month of February,
   When green leaves begin to spring,
Little lambs do skip like fairies,
   Birds do couple, build, and sing.
                                    -- Anonymous

Chrysanthemum: An Anthology

Poetry

"Dear Dr. Frankenstein" by Jericho Brown : The Poetry Foundation

Read the poem Dear Dr. Frankenstein by Jericho Brown : The Poetry Foundation: I, too, know the science of building men / Out of fragments in little light / Where I'll be damned if lightning don't /

Jericho Brown : The Poetry Foundation

"The Final Say: Generosity" by Monty Gilmer

THE FINAL SAY: GENEROSITY

by Monty Gilmer

Keep your hands open, both to receive and to give.

-- Sun-Maid Growers of California

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

-- Jesus Christ (The Bible: Acts 20:35, King James Version)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Final Say

Quotations I have paired up for comparison

"The Wren" by David Baker : The Atlantic Magazine

Read the poem "The Wren" by David Baker in the March 2016 issue of The Atlantic Magazine.

David Baker : The Poetry Foundation

"On the Sale by Auction of Keats' Love Letters" by Oscar Wilde

ON THE SALE BY AUCTION OF KEATS' LOVE LETTERS
A sonnet by Oscar Wilde

These are the letters which Endymion wrote
   To one he loved in secret, and apart.
   And now the brawlers of the auction mart
Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,
Ay! for each separate pulse of passion quote
   The merchant's price. I think they love not art
   Who break the crystal of a poet's heart
That small and sickly eyes may glare and gloat.
Is it not said that many years ago,
   In a far Eastern town, some soldiers ran
   With torches through the midnight, and began
To wrangle for mean raiment, and to throw
   Dice for the garments of a wretched man,
Not knowing the God's wonder, or His woe?


Listen to a recitation of the sonnet above in a video and read about that sonnet on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2tavj1Mhyvw 

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

"Booker T. and W.E.B." by Dudley Randall : The Poetry Foundation

Read this poetic dialogue between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois: Booker T. and W.E.B. by Dudley Randall : The Poetry Foundation: “It seems to me,” said Booker T., / “It shows a mighty lot of cheek / To study chemistry and Greek / When Mister Charlie needs a hand [ . . . ]

Dudley Randall

"If I Could Tell You" by W. H. Auden : The Poetry Foundation

Listen to a recording of a woman (actress Tyne Daly?) reading this poem by W. H. Auden: If I Could Tell You / Poem of the Day : The Poetry Foundation

American poet Wystan Hugh Auden was born in England on this day in 1907. He died in 1973.

"If I Could Tell You" (1940)

by W. H. Auden

"Hustle" by Jericho Brown : The Poetry Foundation

Read the poem Hustle by Jericho Brown : The Poetry Foundation: They lie like stones and dare not shift. Even asleep, everyone hears in prison. / Dwayne Betts deserves more than this dry ink for his teenage years in prison. / In the film we keep watching, Nina takes Darius to a steppers ball. [ . . . ]

Jericho Brown

Salt and Light: Two Poems by Jesus Christ : The King James Bible

THE SALT OF THE EARTH
by Jesus Christ

(Matthew 5:13, King James Version)

Ye are the salt of the earth:
But if the salt have lost his savor,
Wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing,
But to be cast out,
And to be trodden under foot of men.


THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
by Jesus Christ

(Matthew 5:14-16, King James Version)

Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle,
And put it under a bushel,
But on a candlestick;
And it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
Your good works,
And glorify your Father which is in heaven.

"Failing and Flying" by Jack Gilbert : The Poetry Foundation

"Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew." So begins the poem "Failing and Flying" by Jack Gilbert, an American poet who was born on this day in 1925. He died in 2012.

Read "Failing and Flying" by Jack Gilbert >>

From "Calendar of Haiku" by Jane Merchant (1919-1972)

"The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work." So said Patricia Clafford. Compare the poem below with that quotation from Patricia Clafford.


From CALENDAR OF HAIKU
by Jane Merchant

FEBRUARY

Snow dazzles dull air.
"Work done, I will watch." But now,
Work done, snow has ceased.


Source: Together Magazine (January 1972)

"Enough Music" by Dorianne Laux : The Poetry Foundation

Read the poem Enough Music by Dorianne Laux : The Poetry Foundation: Sometimes, when we're on a long drive, / and we've talked enough and listened / to enough music and stopped twice, / once to eat, once to see the view, [ ... ]

Dorianne Laux

"America" by Walt Whitman : The Poetry Foundation

Read America by Walt Whitman : The Poetry Foundation: Centre of equal daughters, equal sons, / All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old, / Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich, / Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love, [ ... ]

Chrysanthemum: An Anthology

Poetry

"The Final Say: The Importance of Snow" by Monty Gilmer

THE FINAL SAY: THE IMPORTANCE OF SNOW

by Monty Gilmer

Scots [the English language of Scotland] has 421 words to describe snow.

     -- From "Findings" by Rafil Kroll-Zaidi in Harper's Magazine (January 2016)

The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them; there ought to be as many for love.
     -- Margaret Atwood

------------------------------

The Final Say

Quotations I have paired up for comparison

"Love": a poem from the Bible, Contemporary English Version

Today is Valentine's Day. Read the poem "Love" (1 Corinthians 13), by Paul, an apostle of Christ, from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How to Find True Love in the Bible | Blog | News | American Bible Society

Read How to Find True Love in the Bible | Blog | News | American Bible Society: Cynics might suppose that Valentine’s Day was created by a cabal of greeting card publishers, florists and chocolatiers. But, no, there really was a Saint Valentine who was martyred for his Christian faith on one February 14 in the third century. He was known for officiating at Christian [ ... ]

Kahlil Gibran on Love

Read Kahlil Gibran on Love.

Chrysanthemum: An Anthology
Poetry

"Abraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 1809" by Walt Whitman

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BORN FEB. 12, 1809
by Walt Whitman

Publish'd Feb. 12, 1888

To-day, from each and all, a breath of prayer -- a pulse of thought,
To memory of Him -- to birth of Him.


Source: Leaves of Grass (1892) by Walt Whitman, 1819-1892

Abraham Lincoln.1809-1865
Sixteenth president of the United States (1861-1865)
(Photo by Alexander Gardner)

"Adulteress" by Josephine Collett

Read this poem by Josephine Collett, a poem that is her interpretation of the story
about the woman caught in adultery (The Bible: John 7:53-8:11): "Adulteress"

`

"Sonnets Uncorseted" by Maxine W. Kumin : The Poetry Foundation

Read this sonnet sequence: Sonnets Uncorseted by Maxine W. Kumin : The Poetry Foundation: 1 / / She was twenty-two. He was fifty-three, / a duke, a widower with ten children.

Chrysanthemum: An Anthology
Poetry

A quotation from E. P. Whipple on books

"Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time."

-- E. P. Whipple

"Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar : The Poetry Foundation

Read this poem, which is good for children. Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar : The Poetry Foundation: "I know what the caged bird feels, alas! / When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; / When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, / And the river flows like a stream of glass; [ ... ]"

Chrysanthemum:

A Poem a Day

"The Inward Morning" by Henry David Thoreau : Poets.org

Read the classic poem "The Inward Morning" by Henry David Thoreau.

Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862

Elizabeth Bishop: Essential American Poets / Essential American Poets : The Poetry Foundation

Listen to Elizabeth Bishop: Essential American Poets / Essential American Poets : The Poetry Foundation: Archival recordings of former poet laureate Elizabeth Bishop (born on this day in 1911), with an introduction to her life and work. Recorded in New York City in 1947 and at the Library of Congress in 1974.

Chrysanthemum:

A Poem a Day

"Wide Receiver" by Mark Halliday : The Poetry Foundation

Do I want to watch
the Super Bowl? I'd rather
watch a superb owl.
                 --Monty Gilmer

Nevertheless, here is a poem about football among other things. Read Wide Receiver by Mark Halliday : The Poetry Foundation: "In the huddle you said “Go long—get open” / and at the snap I took off along the right sideline / and then cut across left in a long arc / and I’m sure I was open at several points— [ ... ]" Listen to a recording of Mark Halliday reading this poem of his.

Mark Halliday
American poet

"Satchmo" by Melvin B. Tolson : The Poetry Foundation

Satchmo was American jazz musician Louis Armstrong (1901-1971). Read the poem Satchmo by Melvin B. Tolson : The Poetry Foundation: "King Oliver of New Orleans / has kicked the bucket, but he left behind / old Satchmo with his red-hot horn / to syncopate the heart and mind. [ . . . ]"

Melvin B. Tolson (1898-1966)

"A Jelly-Fish" by Marianne Moore : Poets.org

Read the poem "A Jelly-Fish" by American poet Marianne Moore, 1887-1972.

3 Prayers for When You Feel Overwhelmed With Fear | Blog | News | American Bible Society

Read 3 Prayers for When You Feel Overwhelmed With Fear | Blog | News | American Bible Society: In the wake of a violent outburst near my home in Philadelphia, Penn., a friend asked me a daunting question: “Should we be afraid?” I thought of every possible reason to say no. But in the end, I had no encouraging words to offer.Have you ever been in a position like this one? Maybe you

"Praise Song for the Day" by Elizabeth Alexander : The Poetry Foundation

Read this poem for Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on January 20, 2009: Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander : The Poetry Foundation: "Each day we go about our business, / walking past each other, catching each other’s / eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. / [ . . . ]"

Chrysanthemum: An Anthology

Poetry

"To Be Asked for a Kiss" by Jericho Brown

Read Jericho Brown's To Be Asked for a Kiss: "Suicide’s Note" by Langston Hughes: "The calm, / Cool face of the river / Asked me for a kiss."

The desire to be dead and the desire not to be alive and the desire to kill oneself are three different desires. The desire to die is not the desire to be dead. Anyone who has ever [...]

Chrysanthemum: An Anthology

Poetry

"The Final Say: Pigeons and Snoopy" by Monty Gilmer

THE FINAL SAY: PIGEONS AND SNOOPY
by Monty Gilmer

Gertrude Stein (born on this day in 1874) once wrote, "Pigeons on the grass alas."

Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the comic strip "Peanuts," once wrote, "Beagle on the roof aloof!"

The Final Say

Quotations I have paired up for comparison

5 Bible Verses for When You Feel Like a Failure | Blog | News | American Bible Society

Read 5 Bible Verses for When You Feel Like a Failure | Blog | News | American Bible Society: Several years ago, I endured a day I wish I could forget.This particular day began like any other: I rolled out of bed, hopped in my car and completed my hour-long commute to work.  And then everything fell apart.As soon as I settled into my office chair, I noticed a packet of paper covered

A limerick about a young writer of verse

     According to the Associated Press, "On this date in 1932, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra recorded 'It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)' for Brunswick Records." The following is an anonymous, simply ridiculous limerick the third and fourth lines of which always remind me of the title of that song:

     There was a young man of Japan,
     Who wrote verse that never would scan.
        When they said, "But the thing
        Doesn't go with a swing,"
     He said, "Yes, but I always like to get as many words
             into the last line as I possibly can."

Langston Hughes (born on this day in 1902) : The Poetry Foundation

Read a biography of American poet Langston Hughes : The Poetry Foundation: Langston Hughes was first recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a period known as the

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Source of photo: The Poetry Foundation

"Billie Holiday" by E. Ethelbert Miller : The Poetry Foundation

Read the poem Billie Holiday by E. Ethelbert Miller : The Poetry Foundation: sometimes the deaf / hear better than the blind / some men

Billie Holiday