Poetry Archive

A few years ago we took what my wife and I called our “Literary Road Trip,” and ventured into the homes of a lot of famous New Englanders, like Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe. (That’s a two-for, by the way, since their homes are next door to each other.) Emily Dickinson’s home was

Richard Blanco has come suddenly to the forefront of American letters as a result of President Obama’s invitation to compose a verse for his second inauguration this week. I had to look up the poet, and was glad to find the full transcript of his long but melodious “One Today.” And in the serendipitous

November, the bringer of barren trees and wintry winds. For some reason the stark change of seasons in spring and fall tends to drive me back to poetry. So here are three poems that reflect the melancholic character of this penultimate month. November Night by Adelaide Crapsey This poem typifies Crapsey’s themes (influenced by

Written on the Sky: Poems from the Japanese Translated by Kenneth Rexroth New Directions, 2009 90 pages (paperback) Available Amazon Powell’s What art form distills images more succinctly and sweeps them away more devastatingly than poetry? Japanese poetry, especially the haiku form, is especially renowned for capturing the essence of a moment in just

According to statistics, faithlessness in America is a growing trend. The numbers are beginning to show that unbelief is on the rise and there are closed church buildings to demonstrate that reality. “Crises of Faith by the Numbers (and Dashes)” (my first article for the local hub of the Religion News Service, ToledoFAVS.com) is

As the TED Talks below show, storytelling is not simply that linear narrative that begins with “once upon a time” and finishes with “they lived happily ever after.” Good stories are complicated, demanding, and call us to participate in something bigger than ourselves. Stories arise from world travels, happy accidents, or long stares out

What I love about Collins is his randomness, his way of turning this mundane object or daily task, that snippet of conversation or quiet observation, into a work of art, simply by giving it room and breath.