Are you worried about being indecisive? Have you ever tried to read a poem and then found yourself mystified by bits of French or references to Sisyphus or Keats or some dead Greek myth or whatnot that you never learned? And it makes you feel excluded before you’ve even started on the poem? Well, no more: Yup, here is your…
Every generation deserves its own impossible school story. This one was written almost thirty years ago but is set in 1956 — the year Lauden McVey, best known for her golden age crime fiction, published her first boarding school novel for girls under the pen name Darcy Andrews. Beryl had hoped to arrive at St. Nicola’s making a good impression.…
W3 by Nancy Richy via The Skeptics Kaddish. Take a look. Join in. And while I’m at it – – a silly ditty – a Quadrille – in exactly 44 words on the topic of myth for dVerse Poets’ Pub Myths Young Einstein passed math with style, And Marie Antoinette, meanwhile – Never said this: “Let them eat cake!” That line’s…
This week I’ve been arguing with Donald Hall, reveling in Letters from Iceland (W.H. Auden and Louis MacNeice), and reading some rather good poetry. Hall died in 2018, so my debate with him has been entirely academic. My focus was his famous essay ‘Poetry and Ambition’, in which Hall introduced the term ‘McPoem’ to describe standardized, workshop-produced poetry. It was…
We are all John Henry at the rock face battling with the steam-driven drill. I’m certain this is not an original thought, but it was new to me, so it felt that way. My introduction to John Henry was via Lonnie Donegan and his skiffle band on the radio as a child. You probably know the story. It’s a classic…
Tasting Notes She was reading the tasting notes on a turmeric jar – melted butter, jasmine, honey. She gazed at the Brown Betty teapot on the shelf and felt how lucky she was to live this life, grateful to be like the spice and the teapot: perfectly crafted and fragrant. With a tilt of the head, as if someone were…
Just a few pics from a recent trip. Here’s just one painting from the excellent exhibit at The Imperial War Museum Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art It’s by Ethel Léontine Gabain, who was commissioned by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, WAAC, in 1940. In spite of poor health, she travelled all over the UK to document women’s war…
In 1943, George Stonier – using one of his many fishy pen names – wrote a gleeful burlesque about a trainload of male poets, both living and dead, journeying west out of Paddington station. He even skewered one of the very poets who then published the story in the journal he edited – Penguin New Writing, (issue no. 18 1943).…
Before the rain settled in for the weekend, we strolled over to the Central Park Conservatory Garden. The spring bulbs had already been dug up and were being given away last time we visited, and the new plantings weren’t in yet. Still, there was plenty to enjoy. The day was windy, and the foxgloves shivered too much for a good…
Coming through the security check at Heathrow recently, my carry-on bag triggered an alert and was pulled aside for inspection. At the request of the agent, I opened the bag. “Anything sharp?” she asked. I suddenly had a moment of dread that I had foolishly packed the Swiss Army knife in the side pocket. You know the kind of thing…
There are moments in literary culture when one senses, however faintly, that something is about to remain exactly as it is, but with unusual significance. Such a moment may now be upon us, as C. Langley Dunwood’s newest work, The Way Of It, enters consideration for the summer issue of The Seasloth Review. We are grateful to the critic Joanie…
I am his Highness’ dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you? Evening traffic homeward burns Swift and even on the turns. Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat Umberto Eco argued that lists are the…
“Sweet, bland commendations fall everywhere upon the scene; a universal, if somewhat lobotomized, accommodation reigns.” — Elizabeth Hardwick, 1959 One of my online routines is reading The Book Jotter each week. It’s a reliable way to keep up with what’s going on in the literary world, and if you care about books at all, I recommend subscribing. One item it…
The Scattering At the beige bungalow the apple tree held its white breath— petals loosening. “It needs a prop,” she said, holding the small trunk to centre as blossoms drifted below the clothesline. “I told him.” “Push the pegs along,” said another. For the photo. There were meant to be seven. We…
The Dragon, the Princess, and St. George: One Story, Three Paintings, One Poem, Three Perspectives. First the Legend Behind the Paintings The most famous tale associated with St. George, as patron saint of England and champion for Christianity, is of him slaying the dragon which was terrorising the city of Silene in the province of Libya, on the day when…