Poem Against the First Grade by George Venn Marking the Magic Circle: Poetry, Fiction, and Essays Alex, my son, with backberry jam smeared ear to ear and laughing, rides his unbroken joy with words so fast we let him get away on the jamjar without clean cheeks first. He spills frasasass tea with milk and…
Pesto in August by Katrina Vandenberg from Atlas How many times does this ritual repeat itself, preparation that begins with sweetness unlocked by the parting of leaves? How many women have unpetaled garlic cloves, dripped oil cold-pressed from olives down a bowl’s curve, ground the edible seeds of pine with mortar and pestle until the…
Oh, frabjous day. Callo! Callay! It’s National Poetry Month! And once again we have trusted friend, poetry lover, and marvelous poet Stephanie Farrow as our Riehlife Poem of the Day editor. Thanks, dear friend.–Janet Stephanie says: Unfortunately, April has only 30 days, which means only 30 poems-a-day, and there are so many more that deserve…
The Poet gropes in the darkness for the switch knowing that the light that is sought lies within. –William T. Dawson I met William Dawson when I told a story at last year’s Sunflower Festival in Mountainaire, New Mexico. We shared supper on his simple terrace as we gazed across the desert leading up to…
Riehlife National Poetry Month Editor Stephanie Farrow writes: Dear Friends, It has been such a treat to share poetry during this past month. Thank you all for participating! Because today is the last day, I’d thought initially that the final poem should be deep and meaningful, inscrutable perhaps and profound—something along the lines of what…
ALABANZA: IN PRAISE OF LOCAL 100 Martín Espada Alabanza[excellent video!] (for the 43 members of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 100 working at the Window on the World restaurant, who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center) Alabanza.Praise the cook with a shaven head and a tattoo on his shoulder…
Blackberries “en bushed” Sign of the times: Google “blackberry” and what comes up is a mechanical device, not a fruit. To find the fruit on Google, you must type in “blackberry fruit.” Vis: more people have likely held Blackberry devices in their hands these days than have gone berrying and experienced the pleasures Kinnell describes…
The Hidden Singer by Wendell Berry from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry (Copyright © 1998) The gods are less for their love of praise. Above and below them all is a spirit that needs nothing but its own wholeness, its health and ours. It has made all things by dividing itself. It will be…
The Wildflowers Were In Bloom (photo by Sequoyah School) My goddaughter Jennifer Delaquil’s son R. attends Sequoyah School in Pasadena. On my last trip out to Southern California, I visited them there. Josh Brody, Director Sequoyah School, sent out some wonderful poems and photos from a student outing in their newsletter called “News from Beyond…
He introduced himself as “Crazy Ali”, and he wasn’t thinking about selling something to us. He wanted to share. Crazy Ali, The Turkish Poet (Photo by Marcelline Burns) I asked, “Who gave you that name?” to which he responded with obvious pride, “I gave it to myself more than a quarter century ago. I am…