Poetry in Oils

It so happened, in this month of poetry, that I bought a new painting for my living room, and I thought, painting is poetry captured in oils. Surprise, surprise, this is not a new idea. Ut pictura poesis “as is painting, so is poetry” HoracePainting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting with the...

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 Mapeel     4/26/2009     national poetry month   

National Poetry Month: A Shadow of Chris Thomas

Poetry has a poignant power to capture the shadows of lives. Chris Thomas, the pen name of one of my great college loves. We had an intensity that was painful on every level. We tried to get together for real many times, but the stars never aligned for us. One of the last times we met was a year after...

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 Mapeel     4/16/2009     national poetry month, poetry   

A Poetic Journey: First Stop, Intro to Francis Thompson

April is the cruelest month, the sweetest month, and, since 1996, a month dedicated to poetry by the Academy of American Poets. Their goals for National Poetry Month, from the website’s FAQ:* Highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets * Introduce more Americans to...

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 Mapeel     4/13/2009     national poetry month   

Happy Easter and National Poetry Month

Make no mistake: if he rose at allIt was as His body;If the cell's dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,The amino acids rekindle,The Church will fall.It was not as the flowers,Each soft spring recurrent;It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of theEleven apostles;It was as His flesh; ours.The same hinged thumbs and toesThe same valved heartThat--pierced--died, withered,...

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 Mapeel     4/12/2009     national poetry month   

ER and the Johns: Readers Face the Ends of Their Eras

Two communities of readers are experiencing the end of an era this first quarter of 2009: the literary followers of Johns Updike and Cheever, and the tv fans of Michael Crichton’s ER. Each community was brought together in a shared passion in large cultural numbers in a way that we won’t see again....

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 Mapeel     4/01/2009     current events, literature, television