Do you know what a stodgy liberal is? I do. It is the given political position in some places in our country: You are liberal or you are a traitor. I used to think sometimes when talking to these people: I am just a person schlepping through life here—but you have a defined belief system?…

This is my sense of spring: wandering in the woods and along streams. It took nine hours to upload it because it is high resolution. I have asked that it be exhibited at Artworks in Big Rapids. It is about trilliums, then rippling water and blossoms on a wild cherry tree, and, finally, some still…

Copilot helped me make a family logo. I think this is pretty good. It is not the same as the family crest I designed last year; it is a simple emblem. Nick and I have worked on different things to put up on the side of his barn; this is based on that project, which…

by T.S. Eliot This poem has taken an important place in modern literature; I do my best with it; I mispronounce a few words, but I do not think that, in such a long work, it requires me to correct the recordings. If you read the poem while listening, you will notice that, toward the…

This is a slideshow with Poetry. Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth, Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant, 14 Haiku by John Battle, The last lines of Lieutenant Lasset, a teleplay by John Battle. Tintern Abbey opens at 00:00 with: “Five years have passed.” Thanatopsis opens at 11:17 with: “To him who in the love of Nature.”…

This is close to the final edition. I can add some names if I get help identifying Canadian relatives. Thanks, John

Since my freshman college Lit course, Prufrock has been one of my favorite poems. My high school English teacher, Mrs. Layton, quoted the lines about the yellow fog swirling about the house, but in freshman Lit, it was included in our course anthology. I thought: This is about middle-age anxiety. When I got to middle…