Tag Archives: Poets

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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like a downhill brakes-burned freight train

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

AND STILL IT COMES Thomas Lux like a downhill brakes-burned freight train full of pig iron ingots, full of lead life-size statues of Richard Nixon, like an avalanche of smoke and black fog lashed by bent pins, the broken-off tips … Continue reading →

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Live Your Way Into The Answer

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Rainer Maria Rilke // “Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them…the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in … Continue reading →

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August Everything Is Wrong

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“August” by Mary Oliver Our neighbor, tall and blonde and vigorous, the mother of many children, is sick. We did not know she was sick, but she has come to the fence, walking like a woman who is balancing a … Continue reading →

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the days slip by

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ezra Pound, Venice  1971 And the days are not full enough And the nights are not full enough And life slips by like a field mouse Not shaking the grass. Ezra Pound, “And The days Are Not Full … Continue reading →

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What Kind of Times Are These

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

“What Kind of Times Are These” by Adrienne Rich There’s a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted who disappeared … Continue reading →

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Except that the goal falls short of the reach

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

I may have mentioned once or twice that I am a huge fan of the late poet and singer Leonard Cohen. Those of us who value his work were greatly saddened by his passing. Last week the first cut from … Continue reading →

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The Carrier of Ladders

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

This week the two-time Poet Laureat of the U.S. and two-time Pulitzer prizewinning poet W.S. Merwin died at the age of 91. One of America’s best known and loved writers, Merwin managed to weave themes of spirituality, politics, relationships, and … Continue reading →

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RIP Donald Hall

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Affirmation Donald Hall, 1928 – 2018 To grow old is to lose everything. Aging, everybody knows it. Even when we are young, we glimpse it sometimes, and nod our heads when a grandfather dies. Then we row for years on the midsummer pond, … Continue reading →

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