Tag Archives: Poets

The Poet Anticipated the Shortcomings of AI

Posted on July 9, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The author Rainer Maria Rilke anticipated the inevitable shortcomings in the use of AI in the arts. He articulated the  essential conditions for creativity in his only novel, reflecting on what it takes to compose a great poem, but also … Continue reading →

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We are moving into a period of bewilderment

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

“We are moving into a period of bewilderment, a curious moment in which people find light in the midst of despair, and vertigo at the summit of their hopes. It is a religious moment also, and here is the danger. … Continue reading →

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In March the earth remembers its own name

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Twelve Moons – Mary Oliver 1 In March the earth remembers its own name. Everywhere the plates of snow are cracking. The rivers begin to sing. In the sky the winter stars are sliding away; new stars appear as, later, … Continue reading →

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Read a little poetry

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I can trace my love of poetry back to my 7th grade English teacher. For reasons lost to the fog of time, one day Natalie Fine handed me a book of poems by Langston Hughes and simply said, “I think … Continue reading →

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Poet turned travel writer

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Not long ago, I was queried by a book buyer about the availability of a first edition copy of A Guide through the District of the Lakes, William Wordsworth’s travelers’ guidebook to England’s Lake District. Although I have seen early editions … Continue reading →

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Jobs of the Poets

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

 

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If you build it, they will come

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

A 57 year old poet named Jiang Libo in China has spent $116,000 building a bookshop in a remote village on top of a mountain. The Milestone Bookstore is located in a rural area of Zhejiang province in eastern China, … Continue reading →

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I am thinking now of grief, and of getting past it;

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Starlings in Winter by Mary Oliver Chunky and noisy, but with stars in their black feathers, they spring from the telephone wire and instantly they are acrobats in the freezing wind. And now, in the theater of air, they swing … Continue reading →

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For the sake of a single poem, you must see many cities

Posted on November 2, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Rainer Maria Rilke // “Ah, poems amount to so little when you write them too early in your life. You ought to wait and gather sense and sweetness for a whole lifetime, and a long one if possible, and then, … Continue reading →

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the path to individuality and personal conscience

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

“Great poets feel into the future with most sensitive antennas, and live out ahead of us, a piece of future development, and yet unrealized potential. Poets and philosophers, if they do not sell out to please, but have the courage … Continue reading →

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