I know a young lady named White
Who only comes out late at night.
She dislikes garlic and steak
But loves to partake
Of necks as the clock strikes midnight!
I Know A Young Lady Named White
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Refugees
A powerful poem
I posted this poem a year or so ago, and I think it bears re-posting again now. In fact, I think I should post it repeatedly every year until everybody understands the situation most of these people find themselves in through no fault of their own.
The first time she ever set eyes on the sea,
She was forty seven.
It was a long road there.
She set off with little enough,
And arrived with much less.
She had a home, once.
A house,
In a well-to-do area of the city.
Life was good.
But fear came,
In the form of bullets, shells and bombs.
Once, gas.
Then everyone lived in fear.
Her house is rubble, now.
Memories and possessions buried,
Alongside her husband.
Alongside her daughter.
Alongside her middle son.
Her hands are scarred from the digging.
For weeks,
Her palms were raw and bloody,
from blocks of masonry,
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This Cold, Sunny Day
This cold, sunny day
Will turn to rain.
I will stay,
For a time.
And rhyme,
While nature will remain
A Beautiful Young Lady Named Crystal
A beautiful young lady named Crystal
Threatened me with her pistol.
When I said, “what have I done”!
She replied, “I’m up for fun.
You will elope with me to Bristol”!
Nature’s Law
Blind librarian David Faucheaux is Library Journal’s audiobook reviewer of the year
As a blind reader, (I read Kindle books using the text to speech facility), and a lover of audio books, I was interested to read this post. Several of my poetry titles are available via audible.co.uk and audible.com, making it easy for visually impaired readers (and others) to read/listen to them.
David Faucheux, a blind librarian who has contributed to TeleRead, is Library Journal’s audiobook reviewer of the year for 2018.
“David has an incredible enthusiasm for a wide range of genres and topics and never ceases to want to learn more and improve his writing,” LJ Media Editor Stephanie Klose wrote. “In addition, as LJ’s only visually impaired audio book reviewer, David’s feedback on user experience of various platforms, formats, and recordings is unique and invaluable.”
David tells LJ: “Audiobooks take me places and show me things I would otherwise never get to encounter. They see for me by their descriptions, their vivid word pictures, and lyrical prose. They befriend me when I’m lonely, educate me when I’m curious, and amuse me when I’m in a blue mood. I have always known I could pick up a book and for a time be in a better or at…
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The Class System in Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes”
This is an interesting post. I think the author has made some interesting points here as regards how Sherlock Homes (through his portrayal by Doyle) disparages upper class characters. However Holmes is also disparaging of lower class persons, for example in “A Scandal in Bohemia” he remarks to his friend, Dr Watson, “hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-splitting specimen of the London slavey”. Of course Homes comment can be read in 2 ways. It can be construed as being purely tongue-in-cheeck or, alternatively one can view it as showing contempt for the “servant class”.
Throughout the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes stories, there is quite a bit of commentary concerning the social classes of the Victorian era. Whether Doyle was depicting Holmes as “upholding the status quo” of the time is a topic that is frequently debated because class inequality was a frighteningly real thing at the time. Women were often thought of as less intelligent than their male counterparts and there was a growing tension between the upper class and the middle and lower classes. Doyle also spends a good amount of time talking about a “criminal class” who are predisposed to take to a life of crime and often composed of people of the lower and working classes. This, by itself, would suggest that Doyle believed that poor people were destined to a life of crime, but I believe it’s a little more complicated than that. There are…
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Thomas Hardy
Approximately 15-16 years ago, I went on a Thomas Hardy weekend and this post reminded me of the discussions which took place, together with the long and enjoyable walks in Dorset.
Thomas Hardy by William Strang 1893
Thomas Hardy by William Strang 1893
On 11th January 1928, the poet and novelist, Thomas Hardy died at the age of 87 in Dorset, England. He was cremated and his ashes interred in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey but his heart had been removed and was buried in the Stinsford village churchyard of his native parish in Dorset.
Two of my favourite books by this author are Far From the Madding Crowd and the somewhat more depressing Jude the Obscure. The latter is the author’s last completed novel and was first produced in serialized form in a magazine in December 1894 but the following year was published as a book. The protagonist is a young stonemason, Jude Frawley, a working class man who dreams of becoming a scholar. What I like about Hardy’s writing is how he focuses on the class system of his…
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Champagne Communist
How Therapy Dogs Help Struggling Readers
When I shared here my guest post for Mom’s Favorite Reads, Reading Tricks for Kids of Any Age, I was once again impressed by the interest you showed in the subject. One particularly interesting comment was by Missimontana, who shared a link to the Colorado Virtual Library website and to a post by Amy Hitchner called, Spotlight on Sharing: Therapy Dogs Help Struggling Readers.
I confess it had never occurred to me that reading to dogs could help children improve their literacy skills but, in hindsight, it makes perfect sense. And it turns out that many public libraries offer “read to a dog” services to help children feel more relaxed while they improve their reading skills.
As one of the programs explains:
This program gives our young readers, at any reading level, a chance to read out loud in a stress-free environment to some very attentive listeners. Therapy dogs will…
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K Morris - Poet 