Apr 1, 2020 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Poetry
A Litany in Time of Plague (1600) Adieu, farewell, earth’s bliss; This world uncertain is; Fond are life’s lustful joys; Death proves them all but toys; None from his darts can fly; I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us! Rich men, trust not in wealth, Gold...
Mar 18, 2020 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Poetry
Full Moon March 2020 Ted Kooser (former US poet laureate) The moon was in self-isolation, too, and wearing a white mask as it passed us in an aisle of the night, keeping a distance not acknowledging us. It was pushing a cart heaped up with stars, far more stars than...
Dec 14, 2019 | Current Ned Note, Horror, On Books, On Writing, Past Notes
The holiday season sees a million variations on Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol, yet this marvelous supernatural tale all too often overshadows the ghostly echoes that permeate Dickens’s entire oeuvre. Here’s a brief overview. In John Irving’s book of...
Dec 6, 2019 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Poetry
A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.’ And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we...
Nov 27, 2019 | Current Ned Note, Poetry
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke America, I Sing Back for Phil Young, my father, Robert Hedge Coke, Whitman, and Hughes America, I sing back. Sing back what sung you in. Sing back the moment you cherished breath. Sing you home into yourself and back to reason. Oh, before...
Oct 21, 2019 | Current Ned Note, Horror, Past Notes
Song of the Witches: “Double, double toil and trouble” BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (from Macbeth) Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of...
