2011 01 09

Almanac — Thomas Warton b.1728; William Johnson Cory b.1823; Lizette Woodworth Reese b.1856; Hayim Nahman Bialik b.1873; Julio Herrera y Reissig b.1875; Lascelles Abercrombie b.1881; William Morris Meredith, Jr. b.1919; Countee Cullen d.1946

Reading —

1. White Flower On Red Earth Or While On Retreat With Five Women Strangers and Realizing Myself As Wife — Kelly Moffett [Rattle] “But it has become too much to ask.” But there is sleep, with its falling in. And center, with its movement.
2. Victorian — Ernest Hilbert [E-Verse Radio] “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here.” Prevailing mood of the day, it would seem.
3. Good Workers ♫ — Gary Johnson [The Writer’s Almanac] Shakespearian sonnet. “‘Are you all right?’ ‘I’m, all right,’ / He says.”
4. Hang Fire — Lisa Russ Spaar [Poetry Daily] Good advice.
5. The Adriatic Sea — Zachary Harris [Verse Daily]
6. Spellbound — Emily Brontë [Poets.org]
7. Sugar Dada — J. Allyn Rosser [Poetry Out Loud] Villanelle! And a good one. “Please just / Go. Home is never what you think it is.”
8. Discrepancies — Stephen Dunn [Poem of the Day] “I’ve tried // to become someone else for a while, / only to discover that he, too, was me.” Or from the other perspective, couldn’t, since it never was as pretended.
9. The Hearse Song — [Anonymous] [Representative Poetry Online] What, only two versions? Surely any of us – even I – could add suitable variations.
10. Half-light — Peter Dale [Poetry Archive] Yes, curtains are surely drawn.
11. ◄ Sonnet IX ► (Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye) — William Shakespeare [Shakespeare’s Sonnets] “The world will be thy widow and still weep / That thou no form of thee hast left behind”
12. ◄ Our Lady’s Song ► — [Anonymous] [The Oxford Book of English Verse]
13. The Prophet: ◄ Children ► — Khalil Gibran. “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.” Or, read back through this past week’s sonnets from the bard.
14. Saturday’s Child — Countee Cullen (d.1/9/1946) [Poetry Foundation]
15. The Mysterious Arrival of an Unusual Letter — Mark Strand [Poetry Foundation] Could’ve come from just about anyone I know.
16. The Illiterate ♫ — William Meredith (b.1/9/1919) [Poets.org (audio from Poetry Foundation)] “…truth is, the man / Has never had a letter from anyone” . . . so, as already mentioned . . .
17. Ode to Sleep — Thomas Warton (b.1/9/1728) [Poet’s Corner] “Black midnight and the blaze of noon alike / To me appear”
18. Heraclitus — William Cory (b.1/9/1823) [Poet’s Corner] Crossed this earlier this week in my offline reading.
19. Fugitive Memory — Penelope Scambly Schott [anderbo^♥]
20. A Hundred Bones — C. K. Williams [AGNI^♥] Losing count.
21. Not Dark Yet — Bob Dylan [Bob Dylan]