Category: Poetry
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My favourite Rudyard Kipling Poems
When I began this blog I never thought poetry would play such a prominent role in the content. Despite my occasional dabbling, I am not a poet; I feel ill-equipped to speak with authority on the merits of poets or their work. I have no formal training in the appreciation of English literature. I often…
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The Raven, as Read by John De Lancie
Tomorrow is Halloween, and I like the fun aspects of that holiday. I’m not a big fan of horror films, and there’s something a little worrying about how much insulin one pancreas is being asked to produce in a 24-hour period, but Halloween is one of those few holidays on the calendar where people are…
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On Robert Service’s The Cremation of Sam McGee
I have a lifelong relationship with Robert Service’s The Cremation of Sam McGee. It was one of my mother’s favourite bedtime stories because it was short. I most often requested a book called The Golden Eagle: It was fascinating, beautifully illustrated, and it took about forty-five minutes to get through. When my mother didn’t want…
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Best of the Web: Rives, the Wordsmith
One of the true joys of the internet is when you find something you weren’t looking for, and then pursue it down the rabbit hole of the world wide web until you end up someplace you never thought you’d be. In that moment, new worlds open up to you, and you look around with fresh…
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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
A Visit From St. Nicholas (or, more commonly) ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston (authorship disputed, as detailed here and here) ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,…
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A Poem: The Land of the Slate Grey Sea
I first wrote this poem when I was 17. I was out of money in the Glasgow Airport overnight, waiting for my plane home. I tried to sleep, but the chairs weren’t particularly sympathetic to my fatigue. The situation was made worse by a pair of Scottish children awaiting an early morning flight for their…
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My favourite Robert Frost poems (and not the ones you’re thinking of)
In the summer between my fourth and fifth year of university I did a four-month unpaid internship at the National Post. Without a penny to spare for recreation, I turned to the University of Toronto’s library for my reading material, and I decided to sample some of the giants of American Literature: I read Ernest…
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Poems: Samples of the work of Luella Federonik
Secrets The trees are wearing Their finest dress Full Skirt, puff sleeves, Gloriously coiffured, Beauty overtakes winter’s scene. Sure wish they would disrobe! I cannot see What the neighbours are doing! Another Holiday Blues Talked to my plants Gave them a drink Washed their leaves Faced them to the sun Told them how much I…
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Poem: In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In…