An Introduction

An Introduction

The modern world has suffered in the past century, and into the present one, from the tyranny of monomaniacs, from murdering monsters of depravity like Hitler, Stalin, and Chairman Mao, to cultural purists infected with the arrogance of privilege, like Trump and...
Ozymandias, Egyptian Tombs & the Song of the Harpist

Ozymandias, Egyptian Tombs & the Song of the Harpist

Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias uses the Greek name for Ramesses II, the most famous of Egyptian pharaohs, and was written as a great statute of him was in transit to the British Museum in a wave of awe and Orientalism sweeping Europe.  The poem captures both the power...
The Joy of Mud

The Joy of Mud

When I was young, there was a bare patch under some tall and shady basswood trees (I called them ‘lollipop trees’, as that is what they looked like) where regular grass just didn’t want to grow.  So, I started to play mud games with the hose.  While my brothers were...