I’ve always loved Housman’s poems. One of my very favorites is “Loveliest of Trees”, although I don’t have fifty springs left, in fact I’m beyond the three score years & ten! No cherry trees here in Florida, but I try to take time to find small pleasures in each day, in spite of all the trouble & strife in the world today. I am going to order Housman’s “Last Poems” to catch up on what I’ve missed. Thank you for that.
I hadn’t read “The Laws of God, the Laws of Man” before, but it certainly applies, especially ironical on this Mothers’ Day.
Such a beautiful gift you have Greg! To express the thoughts and feelings so many of us cannot. I’m amazed at the depth and breath of your knowledge of the poets and writers from days gone by. Today I will spend my time doing as I want, working in my yard and reading the rest of your novel Father-Mucker, Which I am enjoying immensely! Also will watch the five eight! Enjoy your beautiful family on this Mother’s Day ❤️
Alito and his gang are still Justices, appointed by a president and approved by the senate. What they really want is to return the nation to 1789, where women could not vote, a Black human was only 3/5ths as valuable as a white person and enslaved, women had no place outside the home (barefoot and pregnant), and a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick whose circumference was larger than his forefinger. This is what “originalism” as a legal theory actually means, and what every one of these Justices want. Puritanical Catholicism is of course at the root of this movement, as you ably observe. // These disgusting people may be able to force females aged 10-70 to bear children, by rape or threat, but they cannot force them to be mothers. // This court and its cruel puritans give us the strongest reason to finally ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. // Love Housman. Love Wilde. Particularly love Shaw, whose comment, “Beware the man whose God is in the clouds,” has been a guiding principle of mine since I was 17. Man and Superman, anyone?
Paul in Albuquerque: Nicely observed and well put, Greg. You picked a fine poet to demonstrate the power of pure lyrical verse. Today's post serves as a reminder in an age of self-absorbed, delibrately vexing free verse that plain-spoken lyric poetry has a penetrating staying power too often lacking in much of what we read in today's frequently obtuse syntax.
They know the incalculable churning of outrage and misery this will cause, the widening consequences of it. Do they really think this will stand with Americans? This shove toward dominance of arrogance, ignorance, cruelty -- this is the final straw. Nothing could be done in Housman's time, but the blatant stripping away of human rights, of human dignity and identity... I think, despite the precipice of freedoms today, the heinous desires of the cristo-fascists wielding power will not be allowed to stand. We ARE more powerful. This will not stand. I'm sorry Housman and Wilde can't be here to see it.
THIS. SO MUCH THIS! My philosophy on all of these "controversies" has ALWAYS been, "mind your own damned business!" If you're against abortion, don't have one. If you're against gay marriage, don't get married to a person of your own sex. If you're against Blacks, Jews, Muslims, or whomever, stay away from "those people" because for you, it will make your life happier and easier.
What I DON'T understand and can never understand is why people continue to try and force their own beliefs on others. "Abortion is murder!" "Gays are SICK!" "Blacks are lazy and no good!" "Jews are sneaky and can't be trusted!" "The COVID vaccine is EVIL!" These kinds of people with beliefs like these won't realize that what they "think" is their OPINION, not fact. Of course, these are usually the same people that think prime time programming on Fox is "news" and not opinion too. For the people on the side of the political curve that scream about their FREEDOMS and not wanting any part of government telling them what to do, they sure spend an inordinate amount of time trying to do that to others.
We lament the racism, xenophobia, and the othering of people all the time. And all of this can be put into the category of the amorality of a significant number of people. Since I read it on Friday in your column, Greg, I haven't been able to get it out of my head: Amorality. That is what is wrong here, and a lot of other places in the world -- the "I want mine!" or "I have mine!" and "fuck you!" That's why we see people continuing to spread COVID because "Nope! I'm not getting vaxxed because I don't care one bit about others." Or we see people refusing to issue marriage licenses to two men because Jesus is their co-pilot. Or we get a radical SCOTUS decision like this or the others coming if they get away with this one, and all of it ends with "fuck you if you don't like it!"
Unfortunately, all we have to defend us are politicians who continue to try and stay on the side of decency and the RIGHT way to do things and move new laws through Congress. "Unfortunately," because it's not really effective anymore -- not when you have people in Congress that are determined to burn everything to the ground and start over, THEIR way.
I haven't heard of any Democrats or Joe Biden supporters storming the Capitol or even the Supreme Court. Yet. There MAY come a time when that will change because this barbaric bullshit, along with voter suppression, racism not seen since the Civil War, SCOTUS decisions that only hurt people and not help them, and this constant WHINE about border security that doesn't really exist, will cause something to break. It's inevitable. PEOPLE are going to rise up, I think, if our representatives don't do enough to FIX things. We're at yet ANOTHER crossroads and are currently in a lukewarm, not cold, civil war. I don't know what lets us move forward if decisions like this go from draft to law, but I feel the last stand is coming. People on the left are PISSED! It's been almost seven years of this conveyor belt of shit, and although our representatives can only seem to want to appease the right-wing to "keep the peace," PEOPLE are not going to put up with it much longer. November will tell us which way it's going to go, and I DO look forward to being here with everyone to see it! At least if something bad happens, it won't be over a LIE.
“As a poet, I hold the most archaic values on earth. They go back to the late Paleolithic: the fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth; the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe. I try to hold both history and wilderness in mind, that my poems may approach the true measure of things and stand against the unbalance and ignorance of our times.”
I’ve always loved Housman’s poems. One of my very favorites is “Loveliest of Trees”, although I don’t have fifty springs left, in fact I’m beyond the three score years & ten! No cherry trees here in Florida, but I try to take time to find small pleasures in each day, in spite of all the trouble & strife in the world today. I am going to order Housman’s “Last Poems” to catch up on what I’ve missed. Thank you for that.
I hadn’t read “The Laws of God, the Laws of Man” before, but it certainly applies, especially ironical on this Mothers’ Day.
Such a beautiful gift you have Greg! To express the thoughts and feelings so many of us cannot. I’m amazed at the depth and breath of your knowledge of the poets and writers from days gone by. Today I will spend my time doing as I want, working in my yard and reading the rest of your novel Father-Mucker, Which I am enjoying immensely! Also will watch the five eight! Enjoy your beautiful family on this Mother’s Day ❤️
Alito and his gang are still Justices, appointed by a president and approved by the senate. What they really want is to return the nation to 1789, where women could not vote, a Black human was only 3/5ths as valuable as a white person and enslaved, women had no place outside the home (barefoot and pregnant), and a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick whose circumference was larger than his forefinger. This is what “originalism” as a legal theory actually means, and what every one of these Justices want. Puritanical Catholicism is of course at the root of this movement, as you ably observe. // These disgusting people may be able to force females aged 10-70 to bear children, by rape or threat, but they cannot force them to be mothers. // This court and its cruel puritans give us the strongest reason to finally ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. // Love Housman. Love Wilde. Particularly love Shaw, whose comment, “Beware the man whose God is in the clouds,” has been a guiding principle of mine since I was 17. Man and Superman, anyone?
Funny…I have often longed for Oscar’s Twitter input as well, Greg 🌝
Paul in Albuquerque: Nicely observed and well put, Greg. You picked a fine poet to demonstrate the power of pure lyrical verse. Today's post serves as a reminder in an age of self-absorbed, delibrately vexing free verse that plain-spoken lyric poetry has a penetrating staying power too often lacking in much of what we read in today's frequently obtuse syntax.
Thank you, Greg. From my perspective, this is all about Theocracy, the rule of the mental illness of religion.
"An evil enemy, will burn his own nation to the ground .. to rule over the ashes."
- Sun Tzu
They know the incalculable churning of outrage and misery this will cause, the widening consequences of it. Do they really think this will stand with Americans? This shove toward dominance of arrogance, ignorance, cruelty -- this is the final straw. Nothing could be done in Housman's time, but the blatant stripping away of human rights, of human dignity and identity... I think, despite the precipice of freedoms today, the heinous desires of the cristo-fascists wielding power will not be allowed to stand. We ARE more powerful. This will not stand. I'm sorry Housman and Wilde can't be here to see it.
What a perfect (sadly) poem for the ills we face today.
Hmmm: Did Childless Ginni Thomas LEAK?
"And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs."
THIS. SO MUCH THIS! My philosophy on all of these "controversies" has ALWAYS been, "mind your own damned business!" If you're against abortion, don't have one. If you're against gay marriage, don't get married to a person of your own sex. If you're against Blacks, Jews, Muslims, or whomever, stay away from "those people" because for you, it will make your life happier and easier.
What I DON'T understand and can never understand is why people continue to try and force their own beliefs on others. "Abortion is murder!" "Gays are SICK!" "Blacks are lazy and no good!" "Jews are sneaky and can't be trusted!" "The COVID vaccine is EVIL!" These kinds of people with beliefs like these won't realize that what they "think" is their OPINION, not fact. Of course, these are usually the same people that think prime time programming on Fox is "news" and not opinion too. For the people on the side of the political curve that scream about their FREEDOMS and not wanting any part of government telling them what to do, they sure spend an inordinate amount of time trying to do that to others.
We lament the racism, xenophobia, and the othering of people all the time. And all of this can be put into the category of the amorality of a significant number of people. Since I read it on Friday in your column, Greg, I haven't been able to get it out of my head: Amorality. That is what is wrong here, and a lot of other places in the world -- the "I want mine!" or "I have mine!" and "fuck you!" That's why we see people continuing to spread COVID because "Nope! I'm not getting vaxxed because I don't care one bit about others." Or we see people refusing to issue marriage licenses to two men because Jesus is their co-pilot. Or we get a radical SCOTUS decision like this or the others coming if they get away with this one, and all of it ends with "fuck you if you don't like it!"
Unfortunately, all we have to defend us are politicians who continue to try and stay on the side of decency and the RIGHT way to do things and move new laws through Congress. "Unfortunately," because it's not really effective anymore -- not when you have people in Congress that are determined to burn everything to the ground and start over, THEIR way.
I haven't heard of any Democrats or Joe Biden supporters storming the Capitol or even the Supreme Court. Yet. There MAY come a time when that will change because this barbaric bullshit, along with voter suppression, racism not seen since the Civil War, SCOTUS decisions that only hurt people and not help them, and this constant WHINE about border security that doesn't really exist, will cause something to break. It's inevitable. PEOPLE are going to rise up, I think, if our representatives don't do enough to FIX things. We're at yet ANOTHER crossroads and are currently in a lukewarm, not cold, civil war. I don't know what lets us move forward if decisions like this go from draft to law, but I feel the last stand is coming. People on the left are PISSED! It's been almost seven years of this conveyor belt of shit, and although our representatives can only seem to want to appease the right-wing to "keep the peace," PEOPLE are not going to put up with it much longer. November will tell us which way it's going to go, and I DO look forward to being here with everyone to see it! At least if something bad happens, it won't be over a LIE.
At 82 I repeat myself more each day, So:
My religious parents and other ancestors would be
happy to hear that current kooks are looking forward
to charging those suspected of masturbation with murder.
Those that use contraceptives
And women that use a day after pill.
Women that obtain abortions will be subjected too stockades and
bone stretching prior to being set afire at the stake.
?thank god for Alito?
It seems that about 80 percent of the
worlds population hasn't got the message?
God died in 54.
Our leaders lack:
ESSENTIAL WISDOM
“As a poet, I hold the most archaic values on earth. They go back to the late Paleolithic: the fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth; the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe. I try to hold both history and wilderness in mind, that my poems may approach the true measure of things and stand against the unbalance and ignorance of our times.”
—GARY SNYDER
in A Controversy of Poets
Motherhood:https://lithub.com/complete-attention-to-two-things-at-once-on-the-women-who-rewrote-the-motherhood-plot/
Leviticus 20:13. Bet you Sam likes this one?
The Democrats have left for outer space since "Homer learned there was no way to deal with the ants." City by Clifford Simak
The United States is currently in its
Joe Btfsplk period