Monthly Archives: July 2018

More on Ursula K. Le Guin – Part One of a Two Part Series

July 29, 2018 – 1:07 pm

In class, she said, “We writers are the raw nerve of the universe. Our job is to go out and feel things for people, then to come back and tell […]

By Richard Osler | Posted in General | Tagged , Comments (6)

The Silences That Move Us To Speak – Ilya Kaminsky’s Poetry

July 28, 2018 – 6:18 pm

Search Patrols I cover the eyes of Gena, 7, and Anushka, 2, as their father drops his trousers to be searched, and his flesh shakes, and around him: silence’s gross […]

By Richard Osler | Posted in General | Comments (0)

When Death Came She Was Ready – A Deathbed Poem by Anna Swir

July 16, 2018 – 11:23 pm

Tomorrow They Will Carve Me Death came and stood by me. I said: I am ready. I am lying in the surgery clinic in Krakow. Tomorrow they will carve me. […]

By Richard Osler | Posted in Poetry | Tagged , Comments (0)

Life: Beautiful or Monstrous or Both? Three Poems by Swir, Mahon and Gilbert

July 16, 2018 – 8:28 am

Poetry Reading I’m curled into a ball like a dog that is cold. Who will tell me why I was born, why this monstrosity called life. The telephone rings. I […]

By Richard Osler | Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , Comments (2)

Built to Bend – A Poem by Jala al-Din Rumi and One in Response by Me (Richard Osler)

July 14, 2018 – 6:22 pm

  Today like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty […]

By Richard Osler | Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , Comments (4)

A Poem for Andy – Waiting for Surgery on July 12th, 2018

July 10, 2018 – 10:34 pm

Waiting A sound so loud: a dry leaf falling. The ground littered with yellow silences. I walked here with you once, the Arbutus grove, their leaves dropping and their copper […]

By Richard Osler | Posted in General | Tagged Comments (2)