Grandmother Tree by Dr. Joel Ying I remember the great grandmother tree of Claymont Mansion. The dappled light under the shade of her branches; the wind rustling the leaves into the rich moist soil. Grandmother has seen many suns, moons, and stars. A lark sings to the beauty of her nurturing. Walking paths meander here …Read More
Category: Poem
Mind and Heart ~ Charles Bukowski
“Drink from the well of your self and begin again.” Mind and Heart by Charles Bukowski unaccountably we are alone forever alone and it was meant to be that way, it was never meant to be any other way– and when the death struggle begins the last thing I wish to see is a ring …Read More
Be Drunk ~ Charles Baudelaire
“Who among us has not dreamt, in moments of ambition, of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhythm and rhyme, supple and staccato enough to adapt to the lyrical stirrings of the soul, the undulations of dreams, and sudden leaps of consciousness.” — excerpt from the Dedication of Le Spleen de Paris Charles Baudelaire was …Read More
The Family Doctor ~ Edgar A. Guest
“I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them.” ~ Edgar A. Guest (1881 – 1959) A high school dropout, Edgar joined the Free Press newspaper in Detroit in 1895 and stayed for 60 years. After …Read More
One Problem
“The pain of a friend is itself a mountain waiting to be climbed…” ~ Jim Gustafson As I contemplate the words of my friend and poet, Jim Gustafson, I am drawn to the language of poetry to help me uncover how I survived the past week of challenges. One Problem ~ by Dr. Joel Ying, …Read More
Dreams ~ Paul Laurence Dunbar
“I am the Dunbar Jupiter Library. I am neither walls nor shelves that stand in rows. I am the Wisdom of the Universe, Captured, and arranged for you. I am an open door. ‘ENTER.’” — Mary L. Rice (1933 – 2022), first librarian of the Dunbar-Jupiter Hammon Public Library Today, I had the opportunity to …Read More
The Doctor Heals ~ Dr. Joel Ying
Sometimes you need to have a little fun with the poetry and the spoken word. Here are some musings that worked their way into a poem. With the spoken word, it leaps off the page and leaves me thinking… what was I thinking? …. Enjoy the poem. Listen to the audio clip if you prefer …Read More
What is prayer? ~ Mary Oliver
As Mary Oliver says in her poem, “I do not know exactly what prayer is.” What I do know is that when we pray, we invoke something greater than our current selves; we drop into a deep sense of gratitude for all that we already have; and we ask for the support that we need …Read More
Let Every Day Be Christmas
Let Every Day Be Christmas ~ by Norman Wesley Brooks Christmas is forever, not for just one day,for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put awaylike bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.The good you do for others is good you do yourself. Peace on Earth, good will to men,kind thoughts …Read More
Ode to My Socks ~ Pablo Neruda
Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Maru Mori brought mea pairof sockswhich she knitted herselfwith her sheepherder’s hands,two socks as softas rabbits.I slipped my feetinto themas though intotwocasesknittedwith threads oftwilightand goatskin.Violent socks,my feet weretwo fish madeof wool,two long sharkssea-blue, shotthroughby one golden thread,two immense blackbirds,two cannons:my feetwere honoredin this waybytheseheavenlysocks.They wereso handsomefor the first …Read More