“The Reckoning” by Theodore Roethke

Again, today, I turn to Theodore Roethke to help me with the Ragtag Community Daily Prompt, "reckoning". Here is his Poem The Reckoning. I find particularly interesting the grammarage of the word "keep" in the last verse. It makes its subject plural--and so suggests that "lack" is a collective noun, that what we lack in our … Continue reading “The Reckoning” by Theodore Roethke →

Hunting Bear with Eric

“There is no evidence of ecstasy in this blood.” Eric said. As usual Eric was saying words that meant about ziltch. Eric is my friend but Eric is not very accurate when he speaks. Eric speaks for effect, not for saying anything you can put in your freezer. The bear was still out there. It … Continue reading Hunting Bear with Eric →

A Matter of Speaking

“I never mattered much to you, did I?” She walked into the water. What mattered was not my saying, but her. She is water, awash in the fantasy that a speaking matters, that my saying matters or that any saying of things matters. How tell the sea of my heart? So, I didn’t say. Dolphins … Continue reading A Matter of Speaking →

In the Begin. . . .

A sound sounds and, sounding, rises, rises sounding loud, loud as the beginning, a beginning that is but noise a noise named God. And God is the sound, a sound full of its rising, that sounds a sound that wants an articulate for the inarticulate rumble of a sounding, a sounding empty of sound but … Continue reading In the Begin. . . . →

One Way a Maker Makes

How can you hurry a poem? You can’t. The simmering stew on the fire satisfies sooner. Lovers under the slow moon come faster. The seed of a soul, nine months making, makes quicker. Opening the door on a poem begins with finding it first, only to learn the key has been lost ‘till it’s found … Continue reading One Way a Maker Makes →

Vernie Valenine Defines a Word for the Prof

“Omaha is a place I visited for a wedding once,” Vern said, “It was spring, and the air was sumptuous heavy with moisture and there were trees growing everywhere, and. . . .” “Wait. Wait,” Dean put up his hand, “Hold it right there. Vernie old boy. You said “sumptuous.” “Yes, I did,” the old … Continue reading Vernie Valenine Defines a Word for the Prof →

Ferrying Mr. Billingsw

“Hey, Ferry Boy,” Olly Collings said. He was fishing off the landing pier, and he muttered it with a sneer as Ricky passed him to gather the guests for the trip across the lake. “Ferry Boy’s gonna ferry a fairy today.” “Go to hell,” Ricky said. “Not me,” Nate said, “I ain’t ferryin’ fairies.” Ricky … Continue reading Ferrying Mr. Billingsw →

Re: the RPD Writeup on ‘Fleek”

Upon reading the tag for the Ragtag word of the day, and after looking at the Urban Dictionary invective referenced therein, I just—JUST—could not resist the following diatribe on one of my fav hobbies-hosses (trying to grave our vocabulary in concrete tombs) which also includes one of my pettest peeves—undervaluing the full, social, historic, and … Continue reading Re: the RPD Writeup on ‘Fleek” →

Vinny Wins a Zymurgy.

Vin Smitt had been toking on the dictionary again. This is not a pleasant thing for those of us who are victim to the sequela of his toke. When Vinny dipped into his Webster’s International you could pretty much depend on a whole new species of malapropist propaganda. And winter is not a good time. … Continue reading Vinny Wins a Zymurgy. →