International Day for the Right to the Truth
Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations
and for the Dignity of Victims *
World Tuberculosis Day *
Chocolate Covered Raisins Day
National Agriculture Day
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World Meteorological Day *
National Chia Day
Chip and Dip Day
National OK Day *
National Puppy Day *
Near-Miss Day *
National Tamale Day
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Welcome to The Coffee Shop, just for you early risers
on Monday mornings. This is an Open Thread forum,
so if you have an off-topic opinion burning a hole in
your brainpan, feel free to add a comment.
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As Young As You Feel Day
World Water Day *
Bavarian Cream Crepes Day
National Goof-Off Day
World Day of Metta *
International Day of the Seal
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Today is World Poetry Day.
Denise Levertov (1923-1997) British-born American poet, known for her anti-Vietnam war poems in the 1960s and 1970s, which also included themes of destruction by greed, racism, and sexism. Her later poetry reflects her conversion to Catholicism. No matter the subject, she was always an acute observer, and wrote with a rare combination of economy and grace. Levertov was the author of 24 books of poetry, as well as non-fiction, and she served as poetry editor of The Nation and Mother Jones. She was honored with the Robert Frost Medal in 1990, and the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry in 1993. In 1997, Levertov died from complications of lymphoma at the age of seventy-four.
“Celebration” is one of the last poems she wrote before her death, but it is a poem full of life.
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To read Denise Levertov’s poem, Celebration, click:
Common Courtesy Day
Down Syndrome Day *
Education Freedom Day *
French Bread Day
International Colour Day
International Day for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination *
International Day of Forests *
Single Parent Day *
World Poetry Day *
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Won’t You Be My Neighbor Day *
Alien Abduction Day *
National Ravioli Day
World Sparrow Day *
World Storytelling Day *
UN French Language Day *
World Day of Theatre for Children *
UN International Day of Happiness *
National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
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by NONA BLYTH CLOUD
I guess it’s human nature to try to make things fit, whether it’s putting on roof tiles, or papers we need to file, or sorting the animal kingdom into family, genus and species – most of us feel compelled to make order out of the chaos all around us. Order makes us feel safer, and more in control of our lives.
Order can also be a delusion that makes us complacent. We become vulnerable to dangers that would be obvious, if only we were paying more attention. One of the most important functions of Art is to make us uncomfortable, to shake things up. Art makes us see anew, shakes some dust off our brains, and scrapes at the rust on our hearts.
Several critics have referred to Maxine Kumin (1925–2014) as a poet of “maturity” who got a “late start” in writing. She’s also been labeled a “regional” writer because of her strong connection to her native New England, and to life on her beloved farm in “rural New Hampshire,” and that’s led to many comparisons, some dismissive, with Robert Frost.
The danger of these labels is that they make her sound “old-fashioned” at best, and stodgy or boring at worst.
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So before you buy into those labels, please read this poem:
Afterward, the compromise.
Bodies resume their boundaries.
These legs, for instance, mine.
Your arms take you back in.
Spoons of our fingers, lips
admit their ownership.
The bedding yawns, a door
blows aimlessly ajar
and overhead, a plane
singsongs coming down.
Nothing is changed, except
there was a moment when
the wolf, the mongering wolf
who stands outside the self
lay lightly down, and slept.
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International Read to Me Day *
Certified Nurses Day *
Chocolate Caramel Day
Let’s Laugh Day
National Poultry Day
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Sloppy Joe Day
Awkward Moments Day
Forgive Mom & Dad Day
Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day
National Biodiesel Day
Transit Driver Appreciation Day *
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Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
shortfinals
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Flowers For Socrates 