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Category Archives: poetry
A Meditation Explainer for Poets and Environmentalists
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)
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
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No Dogs in Heaven (A Coronavirus Poem)
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
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The Religion Tree (a poem)
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
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Spring, without God (a poem)
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
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Woke Fanatics? Essentialists vs. Nominalists
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
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
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A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.3: Rhetoric Is Sexy
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
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A Mini-Course in Critical Thinking For Writers. Concept 1.9: Moving From Innocence To Experience
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
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A Mini-Course In Critical Thinking For Writers. Concept 1.4: Spanning The Bridge From Logical Possibility To Truth
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
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
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Relativity (A Poem)
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
Posted in aesthetics, atheism, atomism, beauty, climate change, meditation, poetry
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Self Calming: 86 Ways To Activate Your Parasympathetic Nervous System
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
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The Poet’s Fictions (A Poem)
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. _____
Posted in aesthetics, atheism, atomism, beauty, edward feser, God, Lucretius, meditation, poetry, Uncategorized
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On Having No Head: The Headless Squid Bowl, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, And The Cosmos’s Undirected, Mutually Interdependent Arising
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
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Spring without God (a poem)
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
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“A Neutral Color Or Yellow?” A Poem On The Problem Of Fence Sitting In The Age Of Trump
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
What Time Is It? (Another Poem for Daniela Vargas)
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
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Question (a poem for DREAMer Daniela Vargas, in the United States since age seven, arrested in retaliation for exercising her free speech, 2017)
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
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
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Prometheus Unbound 