Andrew’s poem Shakes the Place is this week’s poem of the week.

This week’s poem of the week is THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This is partially because the poem fits the mood of the week. But also because the pictures that go with the poem are cool. They knew how to draw back in those days.

This week’s poem of the week is a lament for a fallen culture

This week’s essay of the week calls to mind this bit of poetry from The Modern Traveller by Hilaire Belloc. I have to admit that I find it impossible to separate the irony implicit in the Modern Traveller from Belloc’s debates with H. G. Wells.

Mr. Dueck has a new poem up. Not his best ever, but we like to encourage new work.

Today I made some attempt at cleaning up, my constant struggle, and found a lot of clippings I had meant to comment on. It seems only fitting to start with the review I ripped out of The Economist (January 6th, 2007). The book under the microscope is called A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Click Here to continue reading.

Since it is going on 15 million views, most people have probably already seen this clip of a sad little bird. If you listen carefully, you can here the thud at the end.

This week’s essay of the week brought to mind A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London by Dylan Thomas. Most people see this poem as a heroic defiance of the Nazi regime. But I see the refusal to “murder the mankind of her going with a grave truth” to be the essence of why Europe is sick and dying.

In other words, the logic that seems to govern Europe is the logic that says “After the first death, there is no other” and consequently cannot bring itself to care about anything except the certainty that can be made in this life.

Over at my Ape Man blog, I have discussed New Urbanism on occasion (largely because I read Architecture + Morality and I sometimes desire to contribute to the discussion). I am generally sympathetic to the aesthetics of New Urbanism, but I doubt current American values will ever enable it to work.
I am not happy Click Here to continue reading.

This week’s poem of the week is Animal Satisfaction. Andrew latter revised it and called Animal Sensation. Comparing the two is educational.