Thanksgiving Per Cicero
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.-Marcus Tullius Cicero

Robert Penn Warren
The poet is in the end probably more afraid of the dogmatist who wants to extract the message from the poem and throw the poem away than he is of the sentimentalist who says, "Oh, just let me enjoy the poem."-Robert Penn Warren

Under the Influence of Yeats
A year ago* I placed a journal entry referring to a poem I read by Yeats. The poem is called The Song of the Wandering Aengus, and it influenced me so much so that not only would I adopt tetrameter as my own standard meter, but the rhyme scheme and stanza type would be sprinkled throughout my own wroks.In fact, A Memory of Delta D.O.C. (a poem of true events) was the very first experimental stanza I wrote after having read Yeats' poem. I immediately felt comfort using these poetic parameters.*****A Memory of Delta D.O.C.I left the bulidings for the brink-For Delta

Rapture (by Richard Garcia)*
RaptureBorn to dwell in darkness, this carrier of light.Denied rapture with the Holy One, called to stand and fight.For the sake of the lost sheep The Shepherd does require,a child to lead them from the Butcher's blade,sparing them the unque

When Last My Heart Gives Way
When last my heart gives wayTo a melancholy,When dim dark steals the dayAnd grief weeps of folly,I seek Him and he loves me freeDespite my lack or sin’s degree.When last my shame has fledFrom all this soul contrite,And sin in me seems dead-Or dead at least the sight-I leave Him who had loved me free,And wish my Lord leave me to be …… ‘til next my heart gives way.-jwm