ClimbingSky

Why Baseball, Books, and the Grateful Dead matter

DAILY BLOG

  • POETRY BOOK REVIEW: 1855 Edition of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

    If I were ever to teach a class to aspiring American poets, I would have one required text: the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. Hemingway famously wrote in The Green Hills of Africa that all modern American fiction comes from one book, Huckleberry Finn. A similar thing can be said for Walt Whitman and the 1855 edition of Leaves Read more

  • MORE Thoreau QUOTES

    It is the unflagging beauty of the writing, day after day, that confirms [Thoreau’s Journals] greatness among writers’ journals. ~ Alfred Kazin   I have posted here before that I read and reread Thoreau’s journals the same way I read and reread W.B. Yeats and a few other poets For grounding.. Thoreau’s Journals read like prose poetry. It Read more

  • MUSIC MONDAY: Mississippi John Hurt – “You Got to Walk the Lonesome Valley for Yourself”

    Here is Blues legend Mississippi John Hurt reminding us why Acoustic Blues can be sacramental. Enjoy! Read more

  • TWINSFEST & SPRING

    Yesterday was TwinsFest here in the Twin Cities. It’s an annual event hosted by my local nine, the Minnesota Twins, to help fans kick off the coming baseball season. Though pitchers and catchers do not officially report for Spring Training until February 11th, Twins alumni, current players, and coaches are at Target Field this weekend for meet-and-greets, interviews, photo opportunities, Read more

  • POETRY REVIEW: “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo

    Joy Harjo (b. 1951) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was the 23rd United States Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2022, the first Native American to hold that honor. Her poetry is generally characterized by: Here is one of my favorite Harjo poems, “Eagle Poem.” Enjoy! EAGLE POEM by Joy HarjoTo pray you open your Read more

  • FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY: Umberto Eco on Poetry

    Poetry is not a matter of feelings, it is a matter of language. It is language which creates feelings. -Umberto Eco Read more

  • THROWBACK THURSDAY: “A Walk” by Ranier Maria Rilke

    Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on January 1, 2011. On another snowy Minnesota morning, this poem by Rilke comes to mind as we “walk” into another new year. In my early 20s, Rilke was a favorite poet. In the many moves I Read more

  • POETRY BOOK REVIEW: Chief Joseph of the Nez Pearce by Robert Penn Warren

    “A strange land we wandered to eastern horizonsWhere blueness of mountains swam in their blue–In blue beyond name.” Robert Penn Warren is probably remembered more today as a novelist than as a poet. While it is true that he did win the Pulitzer Prize in 1946 for his famous novel All the King’s Men, he actually Read more

  • MUSIC MONDAY: “They Say I look Like God” by The Real Ambassadors

    In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I want to share a song featuring Louis Armstrong today I just recently discovered when it was played on my local Jazz station, KBEM Jazz88. Here is some information I found researching The Real Ambassadors and this song in particular. The Real Ambassadors is a jazz musical developed Read more

  • POETRY REVIEW: “What Kind of Times are These” by Adrienne Rich

    Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) was an American poet, feminist, and lesbian activist. Her early poetry, which was greatly admired by W.H. Auden, was quite formal. However, as she struggled with the repressiveness of the 1950s and patriarchal society, she broke away from formalism to free verse. She is one of the few poets I can think Read more