May 5, 2023 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes, Poetry
May May, and among the miles of leafing, blossoms storm out of the darkness— windflowers and moccasin flowers. The bees dive into them and I too, to gather their spiritual honey. Mute and meek, yet theirs is the deepest certainty that this existence too— this sense of...
Mar 21, 2023 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Poetry
A poem by Mary Oliver Spring And here is the serpent again, dragging himself out from his nest of darkness, his cave under the dark rocks, his winter-death. He slides over the pine needles. He loops around the branches of rising grass, looking for the sun. Well who...
Feb 11, 2023 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes
Romance gets criticized for being repetitive – as if repetition is not the way we nourish our bodies and souls. Meals are repetitive: You have to keep making them and eating them and then making and eating them again. Song lyrics repeat every time a chorus comes...
Jan 10, 2023 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Poetry
Today, Charles Simic’s death was announced. Here’s a wonderful memory of Simic by an old friend, Damon Krukowski. I share this with you now as a eulogy for a poet I admired and enjoyed deeply. Rest in peace, and poetry, Charles. Charon’s...
Dec 5, 2022 | Current Ned Note, On Books, On Writing, Past Notes
Turns out, that Shakespeare may have taken Advent Season into account when deciding not only where his play would be set, but precisely when. Scholar Steve Roth has written a paper outlining the astronomical history of November 1601, and the holiday season for...
Oct 28, 2022 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes, Poetry
A poem for this moment in our lives… (October 28, 2022) BY MAGGIE SMITH Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from...
