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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
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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
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Poetry is not a matter of feelings, it is a matter of language. It is language which creates feelings. -Umberto Eco Read more
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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 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
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“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
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Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) was born in Massachusetts but raised in Nova Scotia by her maternal grandmother. While she originally attended Vassar College with the intention of studying music to become a composer, she was reportedly terrified of performing and subsequently switched her major to English. Bishop is frequently described as a “poet’s poet.” Her work is characterized by… Read more
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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
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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
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Jane Hirshfield was born in 1953 in New York City. She is an ordained lay Zen Buddhist and a well-regarded translator; she is also one of my favorite contemporary poets. I have heard Hirshfield described as the poet of “presence.” Her work is often described as a bridge between the Western lyrical tradition and the meditative depth… Read more
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Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language. -Lucille Clifton Read more
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