One Definition of a Phonograph

 From The Devil's Dictionary (1906) by Ambrose Bierce (1842-ca. 1914):

Sunflower

 Ah! Sun-flower

by William Blake

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the travellers journey is done.

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:

Arise from their graves and aspire,

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

"Sunflower" by Mason Williams

Santa's Wish

Santa Claus would like

to teach the world to sing in

perfect harmony.

I myself wonder if all

the world can carry a tune.

The Tenors sing "Santa's Wish"

 

I saw a stable, low and very bare

I saw a stable, low and very bare,

A little child in a manger.

The oxen knew Him, had Him in their care.

To men He was a stranger.

The safety of the world was lying there,

And the world's danger.

     --Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

 Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907)

Tanka on Arrogance

The final two lines in this poem of mine are quoted from Psalm 101:5

in The 1599 Geneva Bible, a 2006 publication of Tolle Lege Press.

My brother got on

his high horse and rode roughshod

over me -- again!

"Him that hath a proud look and

high heart, I cannot suffer."

A is for Arrogance.

As It Turns Out

Robert Wood Lynn is a poet from Virginia, the state in which I live. To read his poem "As It Turns Out" in the Winter 2021 issue (NR 36) of Nashville Review, click here.