Tag Archives: Poetry

The gods wait to delight in you

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Charles Bukowski // “Your life is your life. Don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. Be on the watch. There are ways out. There is light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness. Be … Continue reading →

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There’s just no accounting for happiness

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

HAPPINESS Jane Kenyon There’s just no accounting for happiness, or the way it turns up like a prodigal who comes back to the dust at your feet having squandered a fortune far away. And how can you not forgive? You … Continue reading →

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We nearly missed it

Posted on April 25, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

April is National Poetry Month. Waka, or Japanese poetry, flourished in the court culture of the 6th to the 14th century in Japan. One of the well-known waka poets of this period was Ono no Komachi (小野 小町, c. 825 … Continue reading →

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Fugue State

Posted on March 15, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Death Fugue by Paul Celan Black milk of morning we drink you evenings we drink you at noon and mornings we drink you at night we drink and we drink A man lives in the house he plays with the … Continue reading →

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Your Final Exam

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

A poem by Wislawa Szymborska.  

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Remember the Moments

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Try to Praise the Mutilated World By Adam Zagajewski Translated By Clare Cavanagh Try to praise the mutilated world. Remember June’s long days, and wild strawberries, drops of rosé wine. The nettles that methodically overgrow the abandoned homesteads of exiles. You must … Continue reading →

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heaped with shining hills

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

First Snow by Mary Oliver The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty and what the meaning… The silence is immense, and the heavens still hold … Continue reading →

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Waiting for the Barbarians

Posted on January 6, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The great performance artist Laurie Anderson and company presented a concert of new works inspired by poet C. P. Cavafy. Filmed at the Saint Thomas Church in New York City, the performance is commissioned by the Onassis Foundation. About “Archive … Continue reading →

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Holly

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Holly by Seamus Heaney. It rained when it should have snowed. When we went to gather hollythe ditches were swimming, we were wet to the knees, our hands were all jags and water ran up our sleeves. There should have … Continue reading →

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Magic persists without us

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

“the Egyptians loved the cat were entombed with it instead of with the women and never with the dog but now here good people with good eyes are very few yet fine cats with great style lounge about in the … Continue reading →

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