Jan 31 2023
Best known for his numerous short stories and the novels Appointment in Samarra and Butterfield 8, writer John O’Hara was born on this day January 31, 1905 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. “A merchant in Baghdad sends his servant to the marketplace for provisions. Shortly, the servant comes home white and trembling and tells him that in …
Jan 29 2023
American author and environmental activist Edward Abbey was born January 29, 1927 in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He spent much of his life exploring nature and working as a ranger for several national parks, including working for the United States National Park Service at Arches National Monument in 1956 and 1957, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in early 1960s, Florida Everglades in 1965, …
Jan 28 2023
Today is the birthday of poet Marcel Broodthaers, born January 28, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium. The Grass The centuries are lined up in a box of matches.I’ll buy. I have an eight-pence. The sun is blueat the star’s window Midnight danceswith the fairy as a tendril A little green at the ear, I dream of …
Jan 27 2023
Writer Lewis Carroll, famous for his novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) was born on January 27, 1832 in Cheshire, England. Here is his playful poem about a fantastic creature, “Jabberwocky,” from Through the Looking-Glass. Jabberwocky ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves, And the …
Jan 25 2023
Here is a poem which Bob Dylan cited as his single biggest inspiration, “A Red, Red Rose,” written by Robert Burns. Burns was born on January 25, 1759 in the Scottish village of Alloway. A Red, Red Rose O my Luve is like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June;O my Luve is like …
Jan 24 2023
Author Edith Wharton was born on this day January 24, 1862 in New York, NY, and conveyed the New York experience in her writing. Her best known works are The Age of Innocence (1920), The House of Mirth (1905), and Ethan Frome (1911). My little old doga heart-beatat my feet -Edith Wharton
Jan 22 2023
French artist and poet Francis Picabia was born on this day January 22, 1879 in Paris. As an artist, he delved into an array of palettes, from complementary rich earth tones to more colorful collations, and experimented with a range of styles including Impressionism, Pointillism, Dadaism, photo-based painting, and Cubism. In 1949, Cubist and Dada painter Marcel Duchamp described …
Jan 21 2023
Armenian poet and activist Vahan Tekeyan was born on this day January 21, 1878, in Constantinople. Here is his poem “To My Child” translated by Alec Ekmekji. To My Child You, eternal love for child, how did you fall into me,Like a kind and gentle seed fallen on the desert floor,That clinged to the other …
Jan 20 2023
Nicaraguan priest, poet, theologian, and former Sandinista Ernesto Cardenal was born January 20, 1925 in Granada, Nicaragua and died on March 1, 2020. Vision from the Blue Plane-Window In the round little window, everything is blue, land bluish, blue-green, blue (and sky) everything is blue blue lakes and lagoons blue volcanoes while farther off the …
Jan 19 2023
Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat was born on this day January 19, 1969 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. “There is always a place where, if you listen closely in the night, you will hear a mother telling a story and at the end of the tale, she will ask you this question: ‘Ou libéré?’ Are you free, my daughter?” …