Category: poetry
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OPW: “The Summer Day”
This poem by Mary Oliver has a few lines I quite like: Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean— the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving […]
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OPW: Assignment #1
Today’s Other People’s Words was selected mostly because I’m a sucker for clever titles. It’s not that I don’t like Philip Burnham’s poem, it’s that I wouldn’t have payed attention if not for that title. Assignment #1: Write a poem about Baseball and God And on the ninth day, God In His infinite playfulness Grass […]
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OPW: “Snow, Aldo”
Since it’s been warm outside recently (at least where I live), what better time is there for a poem about snow? This fun little poem, “Snow, Aldo,” is by Kate DeCamillo. Once, I was in New York, in Central Park, and I saw an old man in a black overcoat walking a black dog. This […]
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OPW: “The Aliens”
A slightly different poem than usual. “The Aliens” is from the famously tortured Charles Bukowski, and it wears that fact on it’s sleeve. I suppose that even though I don’t really empathize with the poem, it seemed an apt follow-on to the dissatisfied commentary I presented yesterday. you may not believe it but there are […]
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OPW: What the Uneducated Woman Told Me
Today’s Other People’s Words is a nice–if a little bleak–little poem by Christopher Reid. That she was glad to sit down. That her legs hurt in spite of the medicine. That times were bad. That her husband had died nearly thirty years before. That the war had changed things. That the new priest looked like […]
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OPW: “Riveted”
Today’s Other People Words, like much this week, reminded me of “Be Your Own Protagonist.” The poem‘s “Riveted” by Robyn Sarah. It is possible that things will not get better than they are now, or have been known to be. It is possible that we are past the middle now. It is possible that we […]
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OPW: “All That is Glorius Around Us”
Today’s “Other People Words” is a poem by Barbara Crooker which celebrate the oft-forgotten glories of life. All That Is Glorious Around Us (title of an exhibit on The Hudson River School) is not, for me, these grand vistas, sublime peaks, mist-filled overlooks, towering clouds, but doing errands on a day of driving rain, staying […]
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OPW: “The Future”
Today on Other People’s Words, a beautiful poem by Wesley McNair called “The Future.” On the afternoon talk shows of America the guests have suffered life’s sorrows long enough. All they require now is the opportunity for closure, to put the whole thing behind them and get on with their lives. That their lives, in […]
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OPW: I’ll Wave Good-bye When Butter Flies
Today’s Other People’s Words, is a fun little poem from Jack Prelutsky, “I’ll Wave Good-bye When Butter Flies.” I wave good-bye when butter flies and cheer a boxing match, I’ve often watched my pillow fight, I’ve sewn a cabbage patch, I like to dance at basket balls or lead a rubber band, I’ve marvelled at […]
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OPW: Max Ehrmann’s “Desiderata”
There’s a large soft spot in my heart for broad and sweeping pieces of advice about how to live you life. Even if I don’t agree with everything such poems, columns, commencement speeches, or songs say, I still like them. And even if they seem to be off on a few points, they say things […]