Four Perspectives on the Power of Poetry
I. A man sits on a park bench. The wind ruffles his hair, But the rest of him is undisturbed. II. The wind blows through the branches Of trees, swaying…
Apples and Oranges
A man inclines himself towards The idea. He lifts it off the table and raises It to his mouth. His mouth opens and his teeth Are like thirty-two stars in…
Are the Humanities Dying?
It’s a tired topic by now that the humanities are dying. Some people say that this is because the humanities are an ossified way of looking at reality and at…
Poem: The Moon was a Full Moon
The moon was a full moon: heavenly flex. Full of itself and the light of the sun, The marble remains of a magnificent nude, A bare breast in the night…
Poetry on its own Terms
In the Republic, Plato famously remarked that “there is an old quarrel between philosophy and poetry.” He also refused to include most types of poetry in his ideal city. Without…
Bloom’s Last Book
I do not think Harold Bloom believed in immortality, only long life (he died at age 89 in 2019). What he called poetic immortality was merely extreme longevity, for even…
Mary Oliver and Nature
Review written by Conlan Salgado This is not the age of poetry, nor of great personalities. No one really knows at all what this is the age of, but I…