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...
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...
Sep 23, 2022 | Current Ned Note, Past Notes, Poetry
Rosh Hashanah — September 25-27, 2022 new year. Ned Hayes Rosh Hashanah comes this year on a day of cool wind, a breathtaking portent of winter taking the world, rude lover tossing the sheets away. in autumn the sadness of all things is greatest for now...
Aug 1, 2022 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Poetry
BY SEAMUS HEANEY for Philip Hobsbaum Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like...
Jan 31, 2022 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Poetry
Great hike this month — encountered the poem The Well Rising by William Stafford, engraved in basalt near Lake Oswego Oregon. Here’s some history and context for how this poem was placed in this location, with kudos to Kim Stafford for the detail. William...
Jan 16, 2022 | Current Ned Note, Past Notes, Poetry
The poet Langston Hughes was a great inspiration to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Examples of their connection are expansive. In 1956, King recited Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son” from the pulpit to honor his wife Coretta, who was celebrating her first Mother’s Day. That...
