Autumn is Life Writing its Autobiography

October 25, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

Autumn is not the end of summer, nor yet / Is autumn the beginning of winter; it is / Itself. Autumn is not between anything / Autumn is the culmination of seasons

Ceilings Breaking Glass Icons

October 22, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

Newsies, both in print and on the telescreens, seem unable to refer to anyone who has died as anything other than an icon. As a metaphor, this never worked well, anyway, as an icon is a two-dimensional painting or drawing—the Orthodox term is “written”—of a religious figure for inspiration. Obviously a human being, alive or dead, cannot be an icon in any meaningful sense…

Upon Reading

October 18, 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

At least I think I read it, did I not? / The book exists and was read, but by whom? / I’m beginning to feel that I’m the trousered ape / Who feels that a slide rule is for scratching one’s back

The Road, The Tao, The Way

October 11, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

There is of course the Road, the Tao, the Way / And traveling it is more difficult with age / Or maybe now it travels more for us / But still the Road, the Tao, the Way leads on

Breakfast in Constantinople

October 4, 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

The waitress greeted us in Saint Petersburg / We drank strong coffee in Alexandria / Our omelets were served in Cambridgeshire / As we gossiped in the narthex of Hagia Sophia

An Active School Meeting in Progress

September 27, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

This morning I drove by my old school / A staff meeting was being committed inside / Perpetrating crimes against intelligence / “HELLO MY NAME IS” / 10,000 years of civilization?

Curious Events

September 20, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

At the gas station I bought a Chinese rocket / And worried that a lottery might fall from the sky / I tucked away the ticket into my pocket / Or tucked my pocket into my ticket – but why?

The Passing of The Queen

September 13, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Few constants obtain in our shifting world / And even those constants must leave us at last / Even as the mists of September obscure / The golden days of a summer now past

Human Intelligence, Human Ethics

September 10, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

If the weather services are hacked, the power fails, or that far-away thermometer is down, you can still observe your thermometer. The same obtains with your mechanical clock, your hygrometer, and your barometer. There are no third parties between you and them—no computers, no satellite signals, no radio waves, no electrical lines, no hackers.

The Prince-Poet-Cat of Gatineau, Quebec

September 6, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

In an ice-cream summer in the long ago / I met a marvelous cat in Gatineau / Pushkin by name, a fastidious Russian / His shiny fur coat never needed brushin’…

Poetry in the Desert

September 1, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

A story told about Field Marshal Wavell is that while throwing some things into a bag for a field tour of soldiers defending India from invasion by the Japanese, he asked if anyone had seen his Browning. When someone pointed out that he was wearing it – his Browning 9mm – he said that he was looking for his copy of the poems of Robert Browning. In all his campaigns, Wavell always carried poetry with him.

Light Raindrops Upon the Withered World

August 29, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

After months of dreary drought and heat / Light raindrops fall upon the withered world

Her Majesty the Queen and her Good and Faithful Bear

August 25, 2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Last week I took my few gas cans to the station to fill them up after the first round of summertime mowing. The pump stopped at $100.01. The pump’s computer program is set for $100 for each purchase; I suppose the extra cent was a “so there” at my expense.

Like Candles When They Quietly Go Out

August 22, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

When we were young / A friend once showed me a passage in a book / In which the monks of a certain cloistered order / Were often blessed with wonderfully peaceful deaths / Like candles when they quietly go out

Hurricane Disaster Relief Kits

August 18, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

This summer the Bishop of Beaumont is promoting a good idea and the organizational skills to make it so throughout the diocese: small, easily transportable plastic bags of needful items for anyone displaced by hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, or other disasters.

A Violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics

August 16, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

A day so hot that ordinary tasks / Exhaust the body and the soul; to grasp / The handle of a water tap wearies the mind / To grasp a simple thought eludes one’s will /