DAILY BLOG
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Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on November, 23, 2010 While today Percy Bysshe Shelley is generally recognized as one of the shining lights of English poetry, during his own lifetime and for a generation after his death he was not so widely Read more
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The best way to learn about poetry is to read poetry, and to read poets talking about it. With that in mind, over the next month I will be highlighting a number of books that feature poets talking about poetry, beginning with the book Poetry and Ambition: Essays 1982–88 by Donald Hall. The greatest challenge in reviewing Read more
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There is no poet that I have spent more time with than W.B. Yeats. I have read and reread his Collected Poems more times than I can count. If I had to get rid of all the books I own but one, his Collected Poems is the book I would keep. To my mind, there Read more
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I think of a better way to begin a week than listening to Saint Jerry. Enjoy! Read more
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Poet Louise Glück (1943-2023) was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. Though she attended both Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University, she never received a degree. Glück’s poems are spare, mythic, and beautiful. She doesn’t waste words or images. If poetry is defined as being Read more
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The month of January here at ClimbingSky this year is dedicated to Poetry. It is something I read every day, wrestle with most days, and has been a constant in my life since my teen years. For those counting, that is five decades now and counting. I am not sure how many books of poetry, Read more
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The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. -Dylan Thomas Read more
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Over the past year and a half, ClimbingSky has grown into a daily rhythm of reading, reflection, baseball, and the small joys that come from living through books and stories. As the site continues to settle into its identity, I’ve shaped a clearer yearly calendar for myself. It is based around seasonal themes that anchor Read more
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2025 is coming to a close. We survived the first year of Trump 2.0 by the skin of our teeth. But as a country, as a culture we are greatly diminished. It will take years to undo the damage already done. But in my heart I am afraid the damage is too consequential, too permanent. Read more
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My good friend Bob (who is also a writer and loyal follower of ClimbingSky) recently visited The Abbey of Gethsemane in Kentucky with his wife. The Trappist monastery was the home of Thomas Merton. It got me thinking about some of my favorite quotes from Merton. Here are a few that I think my fellow Read more
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