tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139094212009-10-17T06:46:55.741-04:00Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.comBlogger238125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-26997649479413485022009-08-18T21:14:00.000-04:002009-08-18T21:14:16.033-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Judy Loest lives in Knoxville and, like many fine Appalachian writers, her poems have a welcoming conversational style, rooted in that region's storytelling tradition. How gracefully she sweeps us into the landscape and the scene!FaithLeaves drift from the cemetery oaks onto late grass,Sun-singed, smelling like straw, the insides of old barns.The stone

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-23372960835864721292009-05-31T10:45:00.007-04:002009-06-17T12:58:08.550-04:00

Someone has registered the domain name ruhamacanellis.com and is offering it for sale. The contact email address listed on the site belongs to a high ranking member of a Miami based religious cult that has been openly going after Alberto Cutie and the Roman Catholic Church for years.by Gilbert Wesley Purdy.On May 8th ― the day that Ruhama Buni Canellis was identified by the UPI as the love

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-1119568159309676872009-05-28T19:32:00.001-04:002009-05-31T09:33:45.617-04:00

News:Alberto Cutie Enters the Episcopal Church with Ruhama Canellis by his Side (Article, 5/28/09). "As I write this, the various television crews are still shooting their “fake live shots” inside the cathedral, with the Cathdral's Italian mosaics for backdrop. The CBS truck is outside my window, camera mounted on its tripod and 30 foot transmitter deployed waiting for its reporter."New Poetry:

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-38773807324028688322009-05-28T18:05:00.007-04:002009-06-01T05:00:19.107-04:00

I received the call at 10:00 last night. The Roman Catholic Priest, Father Alberto Cutie, would be arriving at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral today to formally join the Episcopalian church. I was given a short list of additional work items for the morning. Nobody had much of any idea what is done on such occasions, least of all myself.The media began to show up in force at about 11:30 this morning.

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-86518667406352393472009-05-07T20:41:00.001-04:002009-05-07T20:43:36.287-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006To commemorate Mother's Day, here's a lovely poem by David Wojahn of Virginia, remembering his mother after forty years.Walking to School, 1964Blurring the window, the snowflakes' numb white lanterns.She's brewed her coffee, in the bathroom sprays cologneAnd sets her lipstick upright on the sink.The door ajar, I glimpse the yellow slip,The rose-colored

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-71166631927623194492009-05-06T18:45:00.001-04:002009-05-06T18:55:53.713-04:00

Poet Elizabeth Alexander, who will read a poem at the 2009 Inauguration, discusses President-elect Barack Obama and his relationship with language. By Elizabeth AlexanderPoetry Media ServicePoetry Media ServiceThe Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced on 12.17.08 Alexander's place in the Inaugural Program. This interview is transcribed from a Poetry Foundation "Poetry

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-89762216921121796732009-05-04T19:23:00.001-04:002009-05-06T18:55:31.500-04:00

An interview with the Children's Laureate of Britain.By Bruce BlackPoetry Media ServiceFew of his legions of fans were surprised when Michael Rosen was appointed the fifth Children's Laureate of Britain--the first poet to win the honor. Adored for his tongue twisters, puns, rhymes, riddles, and nonsense verse, Rosen also subtly explores the emotional nuances of childhood, including its more

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-40613241902946828782009-05-03T20:45:00.000-04:002009-05-03T20:45:37.524-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Sometimes I wonder at my wife's forbearance. She's heard me tell the same stories dozens of times, and she still politely laughs when she should. Here's a poem by Susan Browne, of California, that treats an oft-told story with great tenderness.On Our Eleventh AnniversaryYou're telling that story again about your childhood,when you were five years old

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-16677065787081276262009-05-02T07:49:00.000-04:002009-05-02T07:49:50.556-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Bill Holm, one of the most intelligent and engaging writers of our northern plains, died on February 25th. He will be greatly missed. He and I were of the same generation and we shared the same sense of wonder, amusement, and skepticism about the course of technology. I don't yet own an Earbud, but I won't need to, now that we have Bill's

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-58652252378337975762009-04-30T17:44:00.000-04:002009-04-30T17:44:20.588-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006We've published this column about American life for over four years, and we have finally found a poem about one of the great American pastimes, bowling. "The Big Lebowski" caught bowling on film, and this poem by Regan Huff of Georgia captures it in words.Occurrence on Washburn AvenueAlice's first strike gets a pat on the back,her second a cheer from

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-51227377785728365592009-04-26T15:25:00.000-04:002009-04-26T15:25:51.700-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Some of you are so accustomed to flying that you no longer sit by the windows. But I'd guess that at one time you gazed down, after dark, and looked at the lights below you with innocent wonder. This poem by Anne Marie Macari of New Jersey perfectly captures the gauziness of those lights as well as the loneliness that often accompanies travel.From the

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-68590975878522245202009-04-24T19:07:00.000-04:002009-04-24T19:08:05.894-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006My father was the manager of a store in which chairs were strategically placed for those dutiful souls waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for shoppers. Such patience is the most exhausting work there is, or so it seems at the time. This poem by Joseph O. Legaspi perfectly captures one of those scenes.At the Bridal ShopThe gowns and dresses

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-32075837957401967352009-04-16T17:36:00.000-04:002009-04-16T17:36:40.318-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006I've gotten to the age at which I am starting to strain to hear things, but I am glad to have gotten to that age, all the same. Here's a fine poem by Miller Williams of Arkansas that gets inside a person who is losing her hearing.Going DeafNo matter how she tilts her head to hearshe sees the irritation in their eyes.She knows how they can read a small

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-41177599304906071762009-04-15T16:12:00.000-04:002009-04-15T16:12:16.275-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006To have a helpful companion as you travel through life is a marvelous gift. This poem by Gerald Fleming, a long-time teacher in the San Francisco public schools, celebrates just such a relationship.Long MarriageYou're worried, so you wake her& you talk into the dark:Do you think I have cancer, yousay, or Were there wormsin that meat, or Do you thinkour

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-83612716717555419452009-04-13T20:27:00.000-04:002009-04-13T20:27:46.197-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006People singing, not professionally but just singing for joy, it's a wonderful celebration of life. In this poem by Sebastian Matthews of North Carolina, a father and son happen upon a handful of men singing in a cafe, and are swept up into their pleasure and community.Barbershop Quartet,East Village GrilleInside the standard lunch hour din they rise,

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-17212436616332304792009-04-09T21:20:00.000-04:002009-04-09T21:21:03.965-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Ah, yes, the mid-life crisis. And there's a lot of mid-life in which it can happen. Jerry Lee Lewis sang of it so well in "He's thirty-nine and holding, holding everything he can." And here's a fine poem by Matthew Vetter, portraying just such a man.Wild FlowersAt fifty-six, having left my mother,my father buys a motorcycle.I imagine him becauseit is

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-59586078652097617342009-04-08T19:30:00.000-04:002009-04-08T19:30:19.961-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Memories have a way of attaching themselves to objects, to details, to physical tasks, and here, George Bilgere, an Ohio poet, happens upon mixed feelings about his mother while slicing a head of cabbage.Corned Beef and CabbageI can see her in the kitchen,Cooking up, for the hundredth time,A little something from herLimited Midwestern

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-6972050259234949292009-04-07T20:35:00.000-04:002009-04-07T20:35:29.701-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Memories form around details the way a pearl forms around a grain of sand, and in this commemoration of an anniversary, Cecilia Woloch reaches back to grasp a few details that promise to bring a cherished memory forward, and succeeds in doing so. The poet lives and teaches in southern California.AnniversaryDidn't I stand there once,white-knuckled,

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-60596903962541451482009-04-05T20:57:00.000-04:002009-04-05T20:58:03.479-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006To read in the news that a platoon of soldiers has been killed is a terrible thing, but to learn the name of just one of them makes the news even more vivid and sad. To hold the name of someone or something on our lips is a powerful thing. It is the badge of individuality and separateness. Charles Harper Webb, a California poet, takes advantage of the

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-27151368433286456762009-04-03T20:52:00.001-04:002009-04-03T20:55:05.856-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006David Wagoner, who lives in Washington state, is one of our country's most distinguished poets and the author of many wonderful books. He is also one of our best at writing about nature, from which we learn so much. Here is a recent poem by Wagoner that speaks to perseverance.The Cherry TreeOut of the nursery and into the gardenwhere it rooted and

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-54505028375913239802009-04-02T19:16:00.000-04:002009-04-02T19:16:17.170-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Don Welch lives in Nebraska and is one of those many talented American poets who have never received as much attention as they deserve. His poems are distinguished by the meticulous care he puts into writing them, and by their deep intelligence. Here is Welch's picture of a 14-year-old, captured at that awkward and painfully vulnerable step on the way

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-25672226241870204012009-03-31T21:32:00.000-04:002009-03-31T21:33:06.084-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Here's a fine poem by Chris Forhan of Indiana, about surviving the loss of a parent, and which celebrates the lives that survive it, that go on. I especially like the parachute floating up and away, just as the lost father has gone up and away.What My Father Left BehindJam jar of cigarette ends and ashes on his workbench,hammer he nailed our address to

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-48809506087902174542009-03-29T18:41:00.003-04:002009-03-29T18:46:00.457-04:00

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006I'd guess that most of us carry in our memories landscapes that, far behind us, hold significant meanings for us. For me, it's a Mississippi River scenic overlook south of Guttenberg, Iowa. And for you? Here's just such a memoryscape, in this brief poem by New Yorker Anne Pierson Wiese.Inscrutable TwistThe twist of the stream was inscrutable.It was a

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-29887548865608909052009-03-29T17:41:00.000-04:002009-03-29T17:41:53.071-04:00

In the smallest of landscapes, Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie finds the larger story.By Joanie MackowskiPoetry Foundation Media ServicesKathleen Jamie has worked her way up in a man's world--Scottish poetry. While her poems do sound more lithe than the gruff lyrics of Hugh MacDiarmid, Norman MacCaig, or George Mackay Brown, her phrasings are nonetheless robust and often brusque--quite new to an ear

Gilbert Wesley Purdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02612678869556343487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13909421.post-70275317421251330592009-03-17T18:15:00.004-04:002009-03-17T19:00:02.833-04:00

by Gilbert Wesley Purdy Krishna Das greets fans as Father James Reho looks on.Here, on the shores of the North Bay, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral has brought Father James Reho onboard, as Assistant to Dean Douglas McCaleb, for, among other things, creative ideas. Father Reho brings with him years of training in Indian and Western mystical practices, and, as the result, the Cathedral now hosts a

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