Living has never been an easy assignment . . .
Monday, March 24, 2025. It's the Moon's day . . . slowly waning toward “new.” Forecasts indicate moderate Southerlies to near 20 mph, bringing a mix of sun and clouds this afternoon to TulseyTown. Upper 70's. Westerlies tonight, Northerlies tomorrow.
Today is the birthdate of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The poet (The Coney Island of the Mind), publisher, and bookstore owner (City Lights) was born in 1919 Yonkers, New York.
Heather Cox Richardson wants to know who is in charge of White House policy. This past Saturday night gave her a clue.
Clearly, Der Trumpenfurher is purposefully in contempt of every court and judge in the country (Cannon excepted for the moment). Joyce Vance explores the options around making a contempt order stick.
I pray otherwise, but the sun set on the British Empire and perhaps it is our turn now...Greatness is good for people, once you know what it really is. – Garrison Keillor, The Column, 3.20.25
It is not an easy assignment, being alive. Coming awake from the stupor of near-living that lulls us through our days, awake to the knowledge that on the other side of the neighborhood ICE trucks are handcuffing people and on the other side of the planet children are dying in gunfire, while outside the first birds of spring are singing and everywhere people are falling in love and in some faraway mountain village a shepherd is singing under a thousand stars. And somehow, somehow, all of it has to cohere into a single world in which we, in all our incohesion, must live this single life. – Maria Popova, in The Marginalian, 3.23.25.
The Beauty of Becoming
This past Thursday (my birthday) marked the first day of spring. For many of us, this is a welcome change and an opportunity to celebrate the promise of winter’s end.
No mud, no lotus – Thich Nhat Hahn
Sometime During Eternity . . .
Sometime during Eternity
some guys show up
and one of them
who shows up real late
is a kind of carpenter
[...]
claiming he is hip
to who made
heaven and earth …
— Lawrence Ferlingetti, “Sometime During Eternity,” in The Coney Island of the Mind, first edition by New Directions, 1955/1958.
Excluding inclusion . . .
Sunday, March 23, 2025. It's Sol's day . . . spending itself behind clouds over TulseyTown. Strong Northerlies are to bring the cloud cover and a cooler 60's. Clearing and 40's tonight.
At what moment
of life’s long sleep
might I wake from this dream
astonished
by the truth?– Saigyō, Gazing at the Moon: Buddhist Poems of Solitude, transl. by Meredith McKinney, Shambhala, 2021.
Kurosawa Akira was born today in 1910, Tokyo, Japan. He was the first Japanese film director to win international acclaim.
Yesterday was the beginning of the “Selma March,” led by Martin Luther King, Jr
What we’re getting wrong about the loneliness epidemic.
George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" had its London premiere on this day in 1743.
[T]he vast majority of Christians in history have identified with their own much smaller kingdoms for which they were willing to fight, kill, surrender, and grant pledges of total allegiance … National boundaries are simply arbitrary lines … We have defined ourselves largely by exclusion more than inclusion. Ironically, World Wars I and II were fought among various “Christian” peoples of Europe and the United States. Any reluctance to admit our embarrassing Christian history reveals our immense capacity for avoidance and denial of our own shadow. – Fr. Richard Rohr, Meditations, The Center for Action and Contemplation. 3.21.25.
The Buddha's Last Instruction
“Make of yourself a light.”
[…]
I think of this every morning
as the East begins.
[…]
And then I feel the sun itself,
clearly I am not needed
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicagle value.
Slowly, beneath the branches
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces
of that freightened crowd.
– Mary Oliver, “The Buddha's Last Instruction,” House of Light, Beacon Press. 1990.
Blessed by a dead dog poem . . .
Saturday, March 22, 2025. It's the Saytr's day … Forecasts indicate breezy Southerlies bringing clouds to TulseyTown this afternoon, mid 70's, and a small chance for rain tonight.
My fave poet Billy Collins celebrates his 84th birthday today. Born in 1941 New York City. Notwithstanding his position as a U.S. Poet Laureate, his level of fame is almost unprecedented in the world of contemporary poetry.
Lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim was born on this day in 1930 New York City. I had the good fortune of playing the role of The Narrator in “Into the Woods” in several performances back in the day in Texas.
Andrew Lloyd Webber turns 77 today. The English composer and theatrical producer was born in 1948 London , England.
It's the birthday of James Patterson who turns 78 today. The best-selling novelist in the world was born in 1947 Newburgh, New York.
Because I've lived in Florida and have taught students like Irene who taught me a bit about where poems go . . .
Where Poems Go
In Tampa, Florida, Irene Ledbetter
sits at her desk to write to me.
She holds the magazine with my poem
about my brother and his dead dog.
[..]
When I read the letter again today, I feel blessed.
– Chris Green, “Where Poems Go,” Rattle, March18, 2025.