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“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace …
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world …
– John Lennon, “Imagine”
To read Irene’s new poem “One Global Town Square” click:
Marianne Moore (1887-1972) was born on November 15, 1887, in Kirkwood, Missouri; influential American poet, critic, editor, and translator. In 1952, her book, Collected Poems, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the National Book Award for Poetry. Her many poetry collections include The Pangolin and Other Verse, What Are Years, and O to Be a Dragon. She died at age 84 in 1972, after a series of strokes.
Marianne Moore was a true original – she was so original that critics and academics are still arguing about what some of her poems really mean!
In her poem called “Poetry” she begins by admitting to disliking poetry! – But then she goes on to explain what she means.
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“But I was born too late
Blame it on a simple twist of fate”
– Bob Dylan
November 13, 1850 – Robert Louis Stevenson born, Scottish author and poet; known for Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child’s Garden of Verses.
To read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Poem “Autumn Fires” click:
November 11, 1937 – Alicia Ostriker born, American Jewish feminist poet and scholar; professor of English at Rutgers University sine 1972; noted for her poetry collections: Once More Out of Darkness, which featured poems about pregnancy and childbirth; A Dream of Springtime; Waiting for the Light; and the feminist classic The Mother-Child Papers, inspired by the birth of her son during the Vietnam War, just weeks after the Kent State shootings. Her collection, The Imaginary Lover, won the William Carlos Williams Award of the Poetry Society of America. Her non-fiction work includes Writing Like a Woman, which explores the poetry of contemporary poets like Anne Sexton, May Swenson and Adrienne Rich; and The Nakedness of the Fathers: Biblical Vision and Revisions, which takes a look at the Torah, which was followed by For the Love of God. In 2018, she was named as the New York State Poet.
“Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.”
– Matthew 6:29
“The fountain of love is the rose, and the lily the sun and the dove.”
– Heinrich Heine
“And the stately lilies stand fair in the silvery light,
like saintly vestals pale in prayer. Their pure breath
sanctifies the air, as its fragrance fills the night.”
– Julia C.R Dorr
To read Irene’s new poem “Lilies of the Field” click:
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Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author and poet, was born in Wisconsin on November 5, 1850. “Solitude” is probably her best-remembered poem, for its opening lines, “Laugh, and the world laughs with you;/ Weep, and you weep alone./ For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth / But has trouble enough of its own.” Her poetry collections include Poems of Passion (1883), Poems of Reflection (1905), and Poems of Peace (1906).
While many of her poems seem old-fashioned over a 100 years after they were written, “Settle the Question Right” offers a perspective that applies to the struggles of any age.
To read Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem “Settle the Question Right” click:
“In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country
and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use
of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.”
– Vladimir Putin__________
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous.
More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready
to believe and to act without asking questions.”
– Primo Levi__________
“That’s the beautiful thing about innocence;
even monsters have a pocketful of childhood
memories with which to seek comfort …”
– Dave Matthes__________
Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
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Terry Welshans
ann li-summers
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Flowers For Socrates 