During the holidays, many people turn toward home and thoughts of love. I found three poems that focus on these two intertwined notions: Home and Love. The first one is Billy Collins’ poem in The New Yorker this week. It’s one of those wily love poems that says not one direct word about the relationship […]
This is number four in a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem, and a second poem that speaks to, or resonates with, that poem. This week’s poem is “Danse Russe” by William Carlos Williams, written in 1916. The Poetry Foundation states, “Williams’s deep sense of humanity pervaded both his work in medicine and
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This continues the series of columns which highlight a much-loved poem and present other poems that speak to, or resonate with, that poem. This week features “What I Learned from My Mother,” by Julia Kasdorf (from Sleeping Preacher, U. Pittsburgh, 1992). A related brief poem is a poem to his mother by Robert Louis Stevenson; the third poem, also
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This is the sixth in a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem, and a second poem that speaks to, or resonates with, that poem. This week’s poem is “Another Dog’s Death,” written by John Updike around 1989. The Poetry Foundation states, “An acclaimed and award-winning writer of fiction, essays, and reviews, John Updike
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This is the fifth in a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem, and a second poem that speaks to, or resonates with, that poem. This week’s poem is “All the World’s a Stage” by William Shakespeare, written around 1600. The Poetry Foundation states, “While William Shakespeare’s reputation is based primarily on his plays,
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This column’s primary poem is “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, written in 1975. Although the first line of this poem is “The art of losing isn’t hard to master;” the same way Steven Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” isn’t about clowns, this isn’t about losing things, certainly not keys. Both follow Emily Dickinson’s edict: “Tell the