Poetry Wednesday: Blow, Wild March Wind

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Windflowers, 1903 John William Waterhouse Oil on Canvas Blow, Wild March Wind by William Wilsey Martin Year written: 1885 Blow, wild March wind! In hollows of the lea, In copses low, thy bride awaiteth thee— The timid, saint-like, white anemone. She will not show her face, though woo’d by kings, Till o’er her beat the pulsings of thy wings. Blow, wild March wind! that we her face may see, Through pine-clad gorges by our northward sea, Through English woodlands where the blackcap sings. Blow, wild … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 04/01/09: April

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April by Amy Lowell (1874 – 1925) A bird chirped at my window this morning,And over the sky is drawn a light net-work of clouds.Come,Let us go out into the open,For my heart leaps like a fish that is ready to spawn. I will lie under the beech-trees,Under the grey branches of the beech-trees,In a blueness of little squills and crocuses.I will lie among the little squillsAnd be delivered of this overcharge of beauty,And that which is born shall be a joy to youWho love … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 02/06/2008: The Wine Drinkers by Tennessee Williams

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  Drinkers by E. Denis The Wine-Drinkers by Tennessee Williams The wine-drinkers sit on the porte cochère in the sun. Their lack of success in love has made them torpid. They move their fans with a motion that stirs no feather, the glare of the sun has darkened their complexions. Let us commend them on their conversations. One says “oh” and the other says “indeed.” The afternoon must be prolonged forever, because the night will be impossible for them. They know that the bright and … Continue reading →

POETRY WEDNESDAY 02/27/08: This Place I Know

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The Peace Of Wild Things by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I … Continue reading →

POETRY WEDNESDAY 02/13/08: Somewhere I Have Never Travelled – E.E. Cummings

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Hannah and Her Sisters is a slow-paced, low-key film that begins and ends with the family coming together for Thanksgiving dinner. The film garnered three Oscars; they went to Woody Allen for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Dianne Wiest, Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Michael Caine, Best Actor in a Supporting Role. A Woody Allen Manhattan mosaic, Hannah and Her Sisters concerns the lives, loves, and infidelities among a tightly-knit artistic clan. The eldest daughter of show-biz parents, Hannah (Mia … Continue reading →

POETRY WEDNESDAY 03/19/08: Come Down, O Maid by Alfred Tennyson

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A Room with a View is a 1986 Academy Award-winning feature film, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The film was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. pensione in Italy that Lucy meets elderly Mr. Emerson and his handsome son, George. These men, although English, represent the forward-thinking ideals of the turn-of-the-century. They are the living embodiment of change, seeking to leave behind the repression and caution that was the norm in Victorian times. At first, the two Emerson men seem … Continue reading →

POETRY WEDNESDAY 03/26/08: Songs of the Soul

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Music by: Ravi Shankar Paramahansa Yogananda is one of the greatest spiritual figures of the twentieth century, and also was one of the first Spiritual Masters to bring the Yoga of the East to the aspiring West. Yogananda was born in Gorakhpur, Bengal in 1893. Originally his name was Mukunda Lal Ghosh. He was given the name of Yogananda after his initiation as an Indian Swami (monk). Yogananda means “Bliss” through yoga (divine union with God) The title “Paramahansa” was given by his Guru Sri Yukteswar . Paramahansa … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 03/18/09: No More Clichés

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Summer Flowers, 1911 Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) Oil on canvas No More Clichés by Octavio Paz (1914 – 1998) Beautiful face That like a daisy opens its petals to the sun So do you Open your face to me as I turn the page. Enchanting smile Any man would be under your spell, Oh, beauty of a magazine. How many poems have been written to you? How many Dantes have written to you, Beatrice? To your obsessive illusion To you manufacture fantasy. But today I won’t … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 03/25/09: A Prayer in Spring

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A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost (1915) Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day; And give us not to think so far away As the uncertain harvest; keep us here All simply in the springing of the year. Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; And make us happy in the happy bees, The swarm dilating round the perfect trees. And make us happy in the darting bird That suddenly above the bees … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 04/15/09: Roses

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Ophelia by John William Waterhouse Oil on canvas   Roses George Eliot (1819 – 1880) You love the roses – so do I. I wish The sky would rain down roses, as they rain From off the shaken bush. Why will it not? Then all the valley would be pink and white And soft to tread on. They would fall as light As feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once.   George Eliot was the masculine pen … Continue reading →