Poem: Learning, William Stafford
Learning A piccolo played, then a drum. Feet began to come – a part of the music. Here comes a horse, clippety clop, away. My mother said, “Don’t run – the army is after someone other than us. If you stay you’ll learn our enemy.” Then he came, the speaker. He stood...
Poem: Relax, by Ellen Bass
A poem for these times... Relax Ellen Bass Bad things are going to happen. Your tomatoes will grow a fungus and your cat will get run over. Someone will leave the bag with the ice cream melting in the car and throw your blue cashmere sweater in the drier. Your husband...
Poem: Holdfast, Holly Hughes
Holdfast Last week of August: too soon for falling leaves, fog that rises at dawn, ghosts up the beach, geese lining up in their ragtag V. Beyond the sandstone ledge carved like a torso by the waves, beyond purple sea stars inching toward tide pools, ...
Poem: May, by Mary Oliver
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...
Flight: New Novel (Preview)
A new book by author Ned Hayes. ( Coming soon! ) Preview of First Chapter I should have found you twenty years ago. Lost in impossible dreams I burned with impatience, looking for you everywhere. Where were you in those times? "J'aurai du te découvrir il y a vingt...
Throwing Away the Alarm Clock: a Poem Charles Bukowski
- published on the date of his death... March 9, 1994 - THROWING AWAY THE ALARM CLOCK by Charles Bukowski my father always said, "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." it was lights out at 8 p.m. in our house and we were up at dawn to...
Of the Empire: a Poem by Mary Oliver
Of The Empire We will be known as a culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. We will be known as a culture that taught and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke little...
Love after Love, a poem – Derek Walcott
- published on the date of his birth... January 23, 1930 - Love after Love by Derek Walcott The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat....
This is One of Those Poems Without any Rhymes
This is One of Those Poems without any Rhymes by Brian Bilston This is one of those poems without any rhymes, the sort of thing you might read in the Telegraph or Times Guardian. For, as proper poets know, rhyme's deleterious and only gets in the way when you're...
Remembering Brian Doyle
Today, November 6, is the birthday of Oregon writer Brian Doyle. I've had the great pleasure of getting to know the writing of Brian Doyle this past year. I was introduced to his work by the wonderful and amazing Kirstin McAuley at the Oregon Episcopal School,...
The October Country
“October Country . . . that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and mid-nights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars,...
Poem: New Year (Rosh Hashanah)
Rosh Hashanah - Oct 2-4, 2024 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 the world was...
