Category Archives: poetry

A Meditation Explainer for Poets and Environmentalists

Posted on September 13, 2020 by Santi Tafarella

As an English professor who is also active in the environmental movement, organizing an annual environmental conference at my college, I thought it would be productive to write out to myself what I think meditation is in relation to the … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, atomism, beauty, Darwin, david hume, Emerson, feminism, God, Lucretius, meditation, philosophy, poetry, Uncategorized, writing | 8 Comments

Late Night Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 (a poem-prophecy in which I predict the election result for those with ears to hear)

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Santi Tafarella

LATE NIGHT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD, 2020 I. Yeats has a question, and I just love Barbara Stanwyck, don’t you? So the first thing I’m getting is this: White is the color of loose saints’ robes and of atheism, and blue-white … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, beauty, climate change, coronavirus, donald trump, meditation, poetry, Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

No Dogs in Heaven (A Coronavirus Poem)

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Santi Tafarella

NO DOGS IN HEAVEN It’s their morning walk; one shall be taken. He’s masked, she’s not. They match in sweaters. He is black, but time has made him blue and atheist. She is bleach white, a poodle. Reaching the porch … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, atomism, beauty, coronavirus, donald trump, God, Lucretius, philosophy, poetry, reason, rhetoric, Uncategorized, writing | Leave a comment

The Religion Tree (a poem)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Santi Tafarella

THE RELIGION TREE I. The leaf doesn’t fall far from the tree, and we are all leaves on the same tree, and will take our leave from here. II. The yellow leaf signals fall, the green leaf, pride before the fall. … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, beauty, critical thinking, Genesis, God, meditation, philosophy, poetry, Uncategorized, writing | Leave a comment

Spring, without God (a poem)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Santi Tafarella

SPRING, WITHOUT GOD   God gave me a rose, And God is love. The rose made me   Sneeze, and I have Asthma. The rose Landed   Me in hospital, Which can’t be right If God is love   And … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, beauty, critical thinking, Darwin, God, Lucretius, meditation, philosophy, poetry, reason, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Woke Fanatics? Essentialists vs. Nominalists

Posted on October 17, 2019 by Santi Tafarella

What’s a fanatic, exactly? The well-known Catholic essentialist philosopher Edward Feser, in a recent post at his blog, points to feminist philosophers like Kathleen Stock, Holly Lawford-Smith, and Julie Bindel as “woke fanatics,” but what is a fanatic, exactly, but someone … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, critical thinking, Darwin, edward feser, feminism, philosophy, poetry, reason, rhetoric, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

A Mini-Course in Critical Thinking For Writers. Concept 1.16: Thinking Critically About Beauty, Art, And Literature

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Santi Tafarella

I’ve decided to attempt the first draft of a college-level textbook, writing it directly into my blog, bit by bit. Feedback and recommendations in the thread comments are welcome, either encouraging or critical. The first chapter is a mini-course in … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, atomism, beauty, critical thinking, david hume, education, edward feser, meditation, philosophy, poetry, reason, rhetoric, writing | Leave a comment

A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.3: Rhetoric Is Sexy

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Santi Tafarella

I’ve decided to attempt the first draft of a college-level textbook, writing it directly into my blog, bit by bit. Feedback and recommendations in the thread comments are welcome, either encouraging or critical. The first chapter is a mini-course in … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, critical thinking, education, origins, philosophy, poetry, reason, rhetoric, writing | Leave a comment

A Mini-Course in Critical Thinking For Writers. Concept 1.9: Moving From Innocence To Experience

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Santi Tafarella

I thought I would attempt the first draft of a college-level textbook, writing it directly into my blog, bit by bit. Feedback and recommendations in the thread comments are welcome, either encouraging or critical. The first chapter would be a … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, atomism, beauty, david hume, education, edward feser, Lucretius, philosophy, poetry, reason, rhetoric, science, writing | Leave a comment

A Mini-Course In Critical Thinking For Writers. Concept 1.4: Spanning The Bridge From Logical Possibility To Truth

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Santi Tafarella

I thought I would attempt the first draft of a college-level textbook, writing it directly into my blog, bit by bit. Feedback and recommendations in the thread comments are welcome, either encouraging or critical. The first chapter would be a … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, critical thinking, david hume, education, edward feser, Lucretius, philosophy, poetry, reason, rhetoric, science, Uncategorized, writing | 5 Comments

Pareidolia, Google Deep Dream, Wittgenstein’s Aspect Seeing, and Friedrich Nietzsche

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Santi Tafarella

The below YouTube video on Google Deep Dream strikes me as an important reflection, not just on artificial intelligence and art, but on the human condition in the sense that pareidolia (projecting images, moods, ideas onto things) is far more … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, atomism, beauty, david hume, edward feser, God, Lucretius, meditation, philosophy, poetry, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Relativity (A Poem)

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Santi Tafarella

RELATIVITY This is whatever can be measured between us. For instance, two birds share one sign, tail feathers touching, heads back in song, a heart of gray sky framed between them. But look again, for each line clocks a difference. One … Continue reading →

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Self Calming: 86 Ways To Activate Your Parasympathetic Nervous System

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Santi Tafarella

Below is a concise self calming list I recently brainstormed for myself–and I thought it might be helpful for others as well. I keep a copy on a single piece of paper in my pocket and look at it periodically … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, atomism, beauty, Bernie Sanders, david hume, edward feser, God, Lucretius, meditation, philosophy, poetry, science, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Poet’s Fictions (A Poem)

Posted on September 29, 2017 by Santi Tafarella

THE POET’S FICTIONS   No hurry, no preference; Nothing simple, Nothing personal. One fire, Great silence.   Bring your rebellion. Bring your solidarity. Imagine the bent nail, The struggle, the birth. _____

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On Having No Head: The Headless Squid Bowl, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, And The Cosmos’s Undirected, Mutually Interdependent Arising

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Santi Tafarella

The headless squid bowl sometimes served in Japanese restaurants is odd and fascinating. It strikes me as a metaphor for the cosmos: it goes without a head. How strange. In a sense, even conscious beings like ourselves go without a … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, atomism, beauty, climate change, david hume, edward feser, Genesis, God, Lucretius, meditation, origins, poetry, science, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Spring without God (a poem)

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Santi Tafarella

SPRING WITHOUT GOD   God gave me a rose, And God is love. The rose made me   Sneeze, and I have Asthma. The rose Landed   Me in hospital, which can’t be right If God is love   And … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, beauty, edward feser, God, Lucretius, philosophy, poetry, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

“A Neutral Color Or Yellow?” A Poem On The Problem Of Fence Sitting In The Age Of Trump

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Santi Tafarella

A NEUTRAL COLOR OR YELLOW?   If the emperor Says he has clothes, And has no clothes, Is silence suspended Judgment or cowardice? _____ Per Wikipedia: “On 10 May 1933, in an act of ominous significance, the students burned upwards … Continue reading →

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, beauty, Bernie Sanders, climate change, donald trump, feminism, meditation, philosophy, poetry, Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What Time Is It? (Another Poem for Daniela Vargas)

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Santi Tafarella

WHAT TIME IS IT?   There are times When silence Does not mean Neutrality, Nor fairness, Nor indecision, Nor open-mindedness, But consent And approval; Indifference And cowardice. Our time is one Of those times.  

Posted in aesthetics, atheism, beauty, donald trump, feminism, hillary clinton, meditation, philosophy, poetry, Politics, Ted Cruz, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Question (a poem for DREAMer Daniela Vargas, in the United States since age seven, arrested in retaliation for exercising her free speech, 2017)

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Santi Tafarella

QUESTION What does it mean If a tree falls In a forest On a person And no One makes a sound?

Posted in aesthetics, beauty, donald trump, feminism, hillary clinton, meditation, philosophy, poetry, Politics, Ted Cruz, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Donald Trump and Emily Dickinson: An Apt Quote and Poem for the Run-Up to Tuesday’s Election

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Santi Tafarella

This quote captures for me a lot of the pre-election feel of this weekend: “Asked earlier Friday aboard Air Force One en route to North Carolina what the president makes of a country that has not more clearly rejected Trump, … Continue reading →

Posted in atheism, Bernie Sanders, donald trump, feminism, hillary clinton, poetry, Politics, Ted Cruz, Uncategorized | Leave a comment