All Intelligence is Artificial
No, no, we are not banks of blinking lights / And random teletype-type taps and beeps / Like Patrick McGoohan’s educational General / Or George Jetson’s mainframe at Spacely Sprockets
Read MoreTag: Lawrence Hall
Treadmills, Exercise, Open Cars, Champagne, and Cigars
The panther-like litheness of my youth (cough) long ago expanded into the, oh, prosperous look of Chaucer’s merchant, and so I have gotten into the excellent but Calvinistic habit of, well, treading along a treadmill every day.
Read MorePeople of the Book
The Thought became Incarnate in Judaea / And thoughts become incarnate in the books we read / For thoughts are tabernacles of our hopes / Tents in the deserts of our wanderings
Read MoreFor Jack On His Birthday
In the long ago I was reading a book / (And doubtless thinking many brilliant thoughts) / Sitting in my car outside Our Lady’s Church / Waiting for some old-lady meeting to end
Read MoreCivilization Begins at the Barn
Barns are good. In our times of destruction and violence, the idea of raising a barn is a vote for civilization…
Read MoreMemphian Lamentation
Let us instead look within our fatal selves / With every resentment validating the Fall of Man / With every snub murdering Abel again / With every lie sentencing Christ to death
Read MoreWinter 2023: An Issue of Life
Join us as we explore the issues of Life! In this issue you will find poetry, two new stories, discussions of human dignity, and plenty more! Also, check out our photo contest entries on page six!
Read MoreDestry Rides Yet Again
One of the satellite channels programmed a weekend of Audie Murphy cowboy movies. In my youth these were a Saturday afternoon staple down at the Palace Theatre, of happy memory, and I was pleased to revisit Destry (1954).
Read MoreTolkien’s Shelob the Spider
A poisonous lump of flesh in malignant repose / Her lair all befouled with scraps of souls / In life sought out with her multiplex eyes / Her Sauron-eyes – it was the hopes that died first
Read MoreA Very Brief Review of When Books Went to War
…tyrants don’t want people thinking for themselves. Books are dangerous to bullies, whether they are Hitler, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Vlad the Bad Putin, Chairman Xi, or the Ms. Grundy down the street.
Read MoreThe Cat as an Argument Against the Concept of Evolution
On the sixth day God made the animals / The cat generally disapproved of the others / And in a superior fashion licked its paws / In the springtime shade of the very first oak
Read MoreThe Machine Pauses – Three Days in ICU
Oh, isn’t it awkward being passed along / Up and down confusing, fluorescent-lit corridors / From receptionist to nurse-practitioner / To technician to physician and back again
Read MoreEdna St. Vincent Millay and Her Pickup Truck
The fragility of teenaged boys is well known / Despite their tough hands stained with oil and grease / And their slouch and their ‘tude, wanting to be grown / Their loud voices disturbing the classroom’s peace
Read MoreAll Children by Nature Have a Desire to Learn
Once upon a time, I was sitting in the car, reading and waiting for the spouse-person who was yakking with some other women after Mass. Suddenly, I noticed a little boy standing next to me at the window. He said, “You look like Father Brown.”
Read MoreChildren Following the Star on Christmas Eve
Good children dress warmly to watch for the star / The star of Bethlehem, the shepherds’ star / The star of the magi, true-guiding star / And more than all of these, the children’s star
Read MoreWord Sung as Light
A deep, slow stream of tones, of modes, of chants / Where time and all eternity flow as one / Through voices and dreamlike echoings / Among the Altars of the earth and sky
Read MoreThe Grinches Who Steal Childhood
I’ve always thought that the best reading lesson is predicated on a child, a fishing pole, a pond, and an old copy of Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood on a quiet summer afternoon before it’s time to get the cows up for the evening milking.
Read MoreA Tiny Tinsel Star
While cleaning house I found a tinsel star / A tiny tinsel star from long ago / When once upon a time it shone so far / Above a Christmas scene in cotton snow
Read MoreThe Poets of Rapallo, a Review
The Poets of Rapallo by Lauren Arrington (Oxford University Press) is a brilliant first draft; one looks forward to reading the completed work.
Read MoreOn the Eve of Advent
On the eve of Advent Jupiter ascends / As is his custom at dusk this time of year / Then Mars and the company of Orion / And all the dutiful stars awake, arise
Read More
