ClimbingSky

Why Baseball, Books, and the Grateful Dead matter

POETRY REVIEW

  • Poetry Review: “54” by Osip Mandelstam

    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

  • “Sweeney Astray” by Seamus Heaney

     The first  book of Seamus Heaney’s I ever purchased was Sweeney Astray at a used bookstore in Dinkytown, Minneapolis. That was in October 1986. Since then I have purchased and read many, many other books of his poetry and prose. I treasure each and every one. By the time Heaney published Sweeny Astray in 1983, he had already written Read more

  • Poetry Review: “The Human Seasons” by John Keats

    Late fall has arrived in the North Country. Experience tells us the first true snowstorm of year is not far off. Frost and cold temperatures have already arrived. In matters of metaphor, Art turns toward Nature for illumination. The laws and rhythms of creation are a teacher worth paying attention to – growth toward death, Read more

  • With a Pencil and My Ear

    When I read a poem, I always do it with a pencil or pen in hand. I have a pencil in my hand to underline and mark the lines I like best, the ones that stop me in my tracks, the ones I find myself repeating over and over to myself.. Reading poetry is not Read more

  • All-Star Break: “Poetry” by Marianne Moore

    My recent post of Marianne Moore’s poem, “Baseball and Writing,” got me thinking more about Moore and one of my other great loves, poetry. If you approach Marianne Moore the same way as you approach most poets you will be quickly frustrated. Her poetry is more difficult, confounding, and requires more work than that of Read more

  • ALL-Star Break: “Baseball and Writing” by Marianne Moore

    Marianne Moore throwing out the first pitch 1968 Marianne Moore  was a voracious reader. This encyclopedic nature of hers is at the heart of why she is a difficult poet. She brings more to a poem than any other poet I can think of and hence asks more of her readers than any other poet. Read more

  • To Hold A Sports Page In Your Hand

    Last week someone left a copy of the StarTribune on the lunch table at work. It was still in the plastic bag that papers are delivered in these days. Over lunch, I took the sports page to my desk and read it. Cover to cover. Spending the most time on the page with the box Read more