“Shiny new tulip beds of different shapes and dyes,
bending beneath the invisible west-wind’s sighs.”
– Thomas Moore“Here are the tulips, budded and full-blown,
their swoops and dips, their gloss,
and poses, the satin of their darks.”
– Margaret Atwood“You believe in God, for your part, ay?
That He who makes, can make good things
from ill things, best from worst, as men plant
tulips upon dunghills when they wish them finest.”
– Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
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by Nona Blyth Cloud
“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
― Thomas Paine, The Crisis
Thomas Paine was born in England on February 9, 1737. Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to help spark the American Revolution. Virtually every rebel read (or listened to a reading of) his 47-page pamphlet Common Sense, proportionally the all-time best-selling American title, which catalysed the rebellious demand for independence from Great Britain. The American Crisis was a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series of essays, later collected into a book. The first pamphlet was published in December 1776. General Washington found this first essay so inspiring, he ordered that it be read to the troops at Valley Forge.
I think that Thomas Paine should be considered the “forgotten” Founding Father. Though he never held public office, he certainly had as much influence on the American Revolution and the establishment of the new country’s system of government as most of the men who are now called our Founding Fathers.
And much of what he wrote then is still very relevant to our current American crisis.
International Preservation of the Ozone Layer Day marks the day in 1987 when 24 countries signed the Montreal Protocol to reduce emissions damaging to the ozone layer by the year 2000. The ozone layer makes life on Earth possible, because it acts as a filter of the sun’s deadly ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Simon Armitage (1963 – ) was born in West Yorkshire, England, and is the author of over 20 poetry collections, including Zoom!; Paper Aeroplane; Seeing Stars; The Shout: Selected Poems (2005), which was short-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and The Unaccompanied. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. In 2019, he was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.
Priscilla Quoa, a student of Vivian Fowler Memorial College, Lagos, Nigeria, won the 2003 Commonwealth Essay Competition.
Stuart Mole, former Director-General of the Royal Commonwealth Society, thought very highly of Priscilla’s achievement, and decided that Priscilla, and I, as a Director of the college, should be formally included in the 2003 Abuja CHOGM agenda. I was totally amazed when he informed me that we were both to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II.
I prepared a customized commemorative plaque on behalf of the college to present to the Queen, and suggested that Priscilla and her classmates compose a Commonwealth-themed poem to honour her role as the Head of the Commonwealth, which Priscilla would present to her. I divulged my plan to Stuart Mole, and he stressed that the Queen seldom received gifts personally, and such offerings would have to be routed through royal aides. However, a request was relayed to Buckingham Palace.
To my surprise and disbelief, I was informed by Buckingham Palace that the Queen had decided to personally receive our gifts. This was an act of sheer humility and kindness on her part. She unilaterally decided to break with entrenched traditional royal protocol, and also jettison strict security safeguards to favour us. To this day, I am humbled that Queen Elizabeth II honoured us in such a manner.
To read the poem which was presented to Her Majesty:
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September 10, 1886 – Hilda Dolittle born, pen name H.D., American poet and novelist, known for avant-garde poetry, literary editor of The Egoist journal during WWI, frequently used Greek mythology and insights from psychoanalysis in her work; H.D.’s work was on its way to being forgotten when the Second Wave of Feminism launched Women’s Studies and Arts and History programs, and new-made women scholars re-discovered her.
To read H.D.’s poem “The Walls DoNot Fall, XIV” click:
If you could look up “wonderful weirdo” in the 13th edition of The Chambers Dictionary of the Twentieth Century, I think you might very well find a photograph of Shel Silverstein.
Shel Silverstein (1930-1999), beloved children’s book author, poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, and screenwriter, has over 20 million books in print in 30 languages.
To read Shel Silverstein’s poems click:
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“You have to get over the fear of facing the worst in yourself. You should instead
fear unexamined racism. Fear the thought that right now, you could be contributing
to the oppression of others and you don’t know it. But do not fear those who bring
that oppression to light. Do not fear the opportunity to do better.” – Ijeoma Oluo
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“The world does not need white people to civilize others.
The real White People’s Burden is to civilize ourselves.” – Robert Jensen
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“When you have only ever experienced privilege,
equality feels like oppression.” – Adam Rutherford
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Gene Howington
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Flowers For Socrates 