All Purls. No Swine.
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And… Continue reading Paean To A Plain Woman
The following post, which I've edited only slightly, was published on Ricochet on May 2, 2018. I'm publishing it again today on what would have been his 101st actual birthday. When it comes to putting things right, better late than never. Happy Birthday, St. Pope John Paul II. “I have a sweet tooth for song… Continue reading “A Sweet Tooth for Song and Music”
Serendipity! I've recently been re-reading Pattiann Rogers. Her poems are stuffed full of brilliant observations about the physical and metaphysical world. Penned by a gifted writer chock-a-block with scientific knowledge of the natural world, Rogers' work has a distinct kinship to haiku. But haiku it is not. This set me to thinking about what distinguishes… Continue reading Hot Dish on Haiku
Haiku #1 Better not to try Painting things that matter much When lambs are around. Haiku are delightful little snippets of poetry in a form that originated in Japan, and which follow rules too numerous to deconstruct here, other than to mention that they often express complex thoughts in simple language and often with natural or… Continue reading Farm Haiku
Happy May 13, National Frog Jumping Day! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate it than to reprint here the story which started it all, Mark Twain’s The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. It was his first significant published work, and appeared as Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog in The Saturday Press (a weekly New York literary… Continue reading Celebrating National Frog Jumping Day
I usually associate puckish or somewhat risqué headlines with organs such as the Daily Mirror in the UK, and the New York Post in the United States. Newspapers that no-one in my family would have been caught dead reading, at least in public. (Excuse me for a moment; just clearing my Internet cache, LOL....) So… Continue reading Getting a “Rise” Out of Oliver Cromwell
Today, May 10, 2021, would have been my husband's 83rd birthday (He always called himself "a good pre-war model.") He died on July 3, 2020, after suffering a decade of chronic health problems, and several years of mental degeneration due to dementia. His last months weren't made any easier by COVID lockdowns and the near… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Mr. Right!
I’ve always loved literature. By which I mean, I’ve always loved stories. I was never terribly academic about it, even during my university days, and I’ve certainly never been one of those desperate creatures the like-minded among us used to call (with a sniff), “Serious Students of Lit-ter-a-toor.” They could usually be spotted on Friday nights… Continue reading Shadow Lands and Cyber Worlds
A recent post on Ricochet drew attention to the photo currently making the Internet rounds of Joe and Jill and Jimmy and Rosalynn. Here's the photo: Crimenutely. It look as if two Amazons (must they be women?) have invaded a dolls' house. Here's the comment I made on Ricochet (#42, when I finally got round… Continue reading WWE: Jimmy and Rosalynn vs Lunchbox Joe and Dr. Jill
One of very few clever little services I've signed up for on the Internet dished up for me this morning the fact that today, May 6, 2021, is the 161st anniversary of the day that Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi set sail, together with a small army of his Redshirts, from Genoa towards Sicily, as part… Continue reading The Land of Lost Biscuits