Summary of Previous Chapters 17 I didn’t like to think about why I’d waited decades to return to Barrington. My mother abused prescription drugs and alcohol and Dad had a hard time keeping a job—could high school have been anything I was eager to revisit? Leaving from the airport in San Francisco, I scribbled down […]
The Sureness of Horses, Chapters 17, 18, and 19 Read More »
Summary of Previous Chapters 13 In January the rains came. Storms rolled in from the Pacific, one after another, releasing torrents, until late in the month. The first morning the sun came out, I called Diana and asked her to meet me at the ranch over my lunch hour. I arrived at the barn early
The Sureness of Horses, Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 Read More »
This is part of a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem, and other poems that speaks to, or resonate with, the first poem. This week’s poem is “Requiem,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson. This poem was carved into Stevenson’s gravestone. The line that attracted me was “Glad did I live and gladly die.” Some critics consider
Kevin’s Favorite Poems, “Requiem,” Four More Gravestone Poems, “Gravy” Read More »
This is the eighth in a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem and a second poem that speaks to, or resonates with, that poem. This week’s poem is “Oatmeal,” written by Galway Kinnell in the late 1980s. Kinnell was Poet Laureate of Vermont from 1989 to 1993 and a Nobel prizewinner. A follower
Kevin’s Much-Loved Poems: “Oatmeal” by Galway Kinnell Read More »
This continues the series of columns that highlight a much-loved poem and presents other poems that speak to, or resonate with, that poem. In this column I’m reacting to a nearby tragedy. A poet friend of mine has lost her husband in a bicycling accident, leaving her to finish raising two girls on her own. Because
Kevin’s Much-Loved Poems: “Lament,” “Holy Sonnet 10,” and “The Sick Rose.” Read More »
I’d previously excluded “The Lanyard” from these columns because of its length–it’s considerably longer than most of the poems I’ve included. But I was recently asked to read at a birthday party from a thankful daughter, and, after searching widely, I found and read one of my already-most-loved poems. It was so well received I’m giving it a column
Kevin’s Much-Loved Poems: “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins Read More »