Tag Archives: Poetry

Excursions into humor + despair

Posted on May 24, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The Detroit-based publisher Rotland Press advertises itself as “a fine publisher of excursions into humor + despair.” It is also the perfect vehicle for a literary and arts journal to help us cope with the overwhelming nature of the Covid-19 … Continue reading →

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The Last Word Spoken

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Testimony: 1968 Rita Dove Who comforts you now that the wheel has broken? No more princes for the poor. Loss whittling you thin. Grief is the constant now, hope the last word spoken.In a dance of two elegies, which circles … Continue reading →

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Perhaps the world ends here

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Perhaps the World Ends Here Joy Harjo The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live. The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, … Continue reading →

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In April

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

In April Rainer Maria Rilke Again the woods are odorous, the lark Lifts on upsoaring wings the heaven gray That hung above the tree-tops, veiled and dark, Where branches bare disclosed the empty day. After long rainy afternoons an hour … Continue reading →

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a loaf of bread, a glass of wine

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám The First and Fourth Renderings in English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald With Illustrations by Willy Pogány ILLUSTRATED WITH 12 TIPPED-IN COLOR PLATES BY WILLY POGANY AND ADDITIONAL GOLD CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS Publisher: Printed in Great Britain by R.&. … Continue reading →

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dark as it is

Posted on April 4, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Thanks W.S. Merwin 1927-2019 Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to … Continue reading →

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The night is darkening round me

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me, And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare boughs weighed with snow; The storm is fast descending, And … Continue reading →

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Free Books in Translation

Posted on March 27, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Archipelago Books is giving away 30 e-books (in ePub or PDF format) from their back catalogue. Most are translated works of fiction, though you’ll also find poetry, such as by the Cuban Dulce María Loynaz (tr. James O’Connor), and the hard-to-categorize Novices of Sias … Continue reading →

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All is vanity

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“Herman Melville” by W.H. Auden Towards the end he sailed into an extraordinary mildness, And anchored in his home and reached his wife And rode within the harbour of her hand, And went each morning to an office As though … Continue reading →

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but oh the museums

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

At the End of the Endless Decade Mark Bibbins For years had anyone needed me to spell the word commiserateI’d have disappointed them. I envy people who are more excitedby etymology than I am, but not the ones who can … Continue reading →

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