Interconnection (a poem)

God came to me in the night
In a reverie glowing with love
She said the anxieties of the world
Are human manifested
Inside a cauldron of confusion
But if we move beyond
The duality of black and white
See the goodness amid the bad
New colors burst, evoking
Interpersonal landscapes
Where sin is but an echo
That has faded and worn
And the interconnection
Of all beings, flows at the core
Of our weary, tired souls

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New Commitments (a poem)

The decisions we make
Reverberate through time
We take vows; we make promises
They bind us together
Life comes at us quickly
Throws us off-kilter
Time passes and
We don’t see the hourglass empty
How we live each day
Is how we spend a lifetime
And if the vows we make
Aren’t strong enough
We fortify them with new
Commitments, each minute,
Hour, day, and eternal now

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Slithering Digital Love (a poem)

Shapeshifting into the future
Slimed and slithering digital love
What hath these times wrought?
Implants in my brain that glitch and smolder
Naked bodies that twitch – behold her!
Goddess of the internet dystopia
All pixelated JPEG beauty
Live in the here, now, future, distant past
Everything – maddeningly – all at once
And not a trace of quietness
For your nighttime rituals

Do The Right Thing (a poem)

Do the right thing, they say
It's not always the easiest thing
And those frantic days
And those homesick nights
It can wear you down
Is there a reward for this?
Probably not
Love is its own reward
But is love enough?
Sometimes, not always
Let the time pass
And the days turn into dusk
Spend a lifetime doing the right things
With no heaven as a reward
But merely the assurance
Of a lifetime of hard-fought
Difficult, warm love

The Influences and Inspirations Behind William Faulkner’s Classic ‘Absalom, Absalom!’

William Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!” is one of American literature’s most influential and essential works. But what inspired this classic novel? Faulkner’s prose is impressive, but he’s a challenging author to understand. I read this novel recently, considered one of his best, and it left me with more questions than answers. So, I decided to do some research.

William Faulkner was an American novelist and short-story writer, most known for his modernist works set in the Southern United States. In total, Faulkner wrote over twenty novels and more than one hundred short stories. Faulkner was influential in redefining literary technique and style by using stream-of-consciousness, symbolism, and fictionalized histories. He also popularized Southern literature as a genre through his works that focused on the South’s culture and history.

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This Day in Literary History: February 10, 1778 – Voltaire Returns to Paris After a Long Period of Exile

On this day in literary history, on February 10, 1778, Voltaire returned to Paris to great acclaim after being gone for 28 years. Voltaire’s departure from Paris was a defining moment in his life. He left a life of comfort and privilege and moved to a small village in England, where he wrote some of his greatest works.

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Vast the Realm of Being Is by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Vast the realm of Being is,
In the waste one nook is his;
Whatsoever hap befalls
In his vision’s narrow walls
He is here to testify.

Note: This poem is in the public domain and can be found here. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, lecturer, abolitionist, and poet who was the leader of the Transcendalist movement in the mid-19th century. Emerson was a champion of individualism and constant critic of the pressures of society, and his ideas were spread through dozens of published essays throughout the United States.