DAILY BLOG
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I have been spending a little time of late again with Robert Browning, reading Chesterton’s biography of Browning and re-reading for the first time in a couple of decades his poetry in a serious and more formal way. I have never been far from Browning (who incidentally, shares my birthday) because certain Browning poems and… Read more
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I started playing chess online in earnest more than 25+ years ago. I remain a patzer. About 5 or 6 years ago I inexplicably stopped. Recently however, clearly in response to the election, I started playing again. I have lost whatever skills I may have had. But like books and baseball, chess helps keep my… Read more
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I think I have mentioned here before that I have learned that I need time to internally process things before I write about them. Is two weeks enough time to try to process what is unprossessable? Two months? Two decades? I remain convinced that the purpose of government is to protect the weak from the… Read more
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As any reader knows, sometimes you just cannot connect to a book the first or second time you pick it up. Yet if you pick that same book up at a later date and start reading you may actually fall in love with it. I have noticed that music works the same way for me… Read more
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In the mornings, I often go walking before heading to work. This time of year at 6:15am, it is still quite dark and the sky, when it is not overcast, is bright with stars. Here is a small poem about stars… and much more. Enjoy! STARS, SONGS, AND FACES by Carl Sandburg Gather the stars… Read more
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A few years ago I picked up a copy of Personae by Ezra Pound at ABE books. When I opened it up to start reading, I came across this note in pink on the inside cover. September 15, 1969 Jay, Happy Birthday Enjoy! Love, Sara Books are living things, with histories, lives of their own… Read more
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Osip Mandelstam is an artistic martyr, a saint of the imagination. No poet sacrificed as much for his art. No poet paid more dearly for believing in the power of language and beauty and the freedom of imagination. Exiled and incarcerated often in Soviet Russia for what he wrote, Mandelstam reminds us that words do matter. That one of… Read more
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To be able to post something everyday here at ClimbingSky, I need to always have postings scheduled a couple of weeks ahead of time. And have a basic plan for 30 days ahead of time. My personal habit of writing daily helps. As well as sticking to things I have a lot of opinions about… Read more
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Today Americans go to the polls and again Democracy faces Lincoln’s famous question. Can our democracy or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, long endure. The choice we face today is clear. Please join with me in praying that a majority of our neighbors take up Lincoln’s spirit today. Hate, injustice, and untruth cannot… Read more
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William Butler Yeats as a poet is unique. He grew greater as he aged. He was world famous as a poet in his early 20s, but wrote many of his best poems when he was in his 70s. For this reason, he has more great poems about middle age and old age than any other… Read more
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