Waiting to Remember

To remember is to restore. To return to one’s memories, particularly the painful ones, is to revisit a place of holy ground. It is to return to the breaking ground and the winnowing field. In drear nighted December John Keats, 1817   In drear nighted December,      Too happy, happy tree,  Thy branches ne’er remember      Their green felicity— The north cannot undo them  With a sleety whistle … Continue reading Waiting to Remember

 Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads: Keeping Poetry Honest

“Fair is foul and foul is fair,” sing the witches in Macbeth as they toss toads and newts and thumbs into the pot to make “double, double, toil and trouble.” Despite the appearance of sorcery, they do not supernaturally bewitch Macbeth. All they do is speak. Macbeth destroys himself of his own free will. It’s a subtle boast from Shakespeare: by giving the witches the … Continue reading  Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads: Keeping Poetry Honest