Category Archives: Writing

Recommended Reading

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

 

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World Poetry Day

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Home by Warsan Shire no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well your neighbors running faster than you breath bloody in … Continue reading →

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Everybody Loves a Good Book Hoax

Posted on March 19, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

When I was a young child growing up outside of New York City one of the most popular late-night radio personalitues was the wonderful raconteur Jean Shepard. Although he became better known for writing the classic holiday film A Christmas … Continue reading →

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Book the Vote

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The group Writers for Democratic Action along with dozens of independent booksellers, librarians, and the student group Democracy Matters has launched a new project called  Book the Vote, with the aim of registering more voters, particularly in battleground states, before … Continue reading →

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“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Like many old codgers from my generation, the Beat writer Jack Kerouac had a tremendous influence on my adolescent world view. His seminal novel On The Road encouraged wanderlust for millions of young people, including yours truly. This week marked the centennial … Continue reading →

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Man serves the interests of no creature except himself

Posted on March 13, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I first read George Orwell’s seminal anti-totalitarianism satire  Animal Farm when I lacked the political sophistication to truly understand the significance of the story, but some how I managed to grasp the essential themes of idealism, power and corruption in … Continue reading →

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About suffering they were never wrong

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

W. H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts,” written in 1938, is one of the better-known examples of ekphrasis, or poems inspired by artworks, up there with Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo.”Auden’s subject is … Continue reading →

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forever making poems in the lap of death

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Humanity I Love You Humanity i love you because you would rather black the boots of success than enquire whose soul dangles from his watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both parties and because you unflinchingly applaud all songs containing … Continue reading →

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Ukraine: Finding Context

Posted on March 6, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Like most people these days, I have been trying to learn more about the regional war that Putin has launched against Ukraine and to put it all in context. Sadly, I must admit that I have always paid more attention … Continue reading →

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“How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?”

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

It was announced last week that a previously unpublished book by Leonard Cohen—rejected by two publishers and then set aside—will be published this October by Grove Press. The novel, A Ballet of Lepers, will be published with fifteen short stories and … Continue reading →

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