Poetry corner

You're my funny valentine,Sweet comic valentine,You make me smile with my heart.Your looks are laughable, un-photographable,Yet, you're my favorite work of art.Is your figure less than Greek?Is your mouth a little weak?When you open it to speak, are you smart?But, don't change a hair for me.Not if you care for me.Stay little valentine, stay!Each day is Valentine's … [Read more...] about My Funny Valentine

[Apropos of only the weather--but it's a good reason to reach for the Bard.  Some have interpreted this as a call to persist in the face on inevitable headwinds.] When that I was and a little tiny boy... (Feste's song) from Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare When that I was and a little tiny boy,With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,A foolish thing was but a toy,For the … [Read more...] about …For the rain it raineth every day.

Byron's "Written After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" [In 1810, Lord Byron (George Gordon) imitated the legendary swim of the hero in Ovid's Hero and Leander across the Hellespont in Turkey]IF, in the month of dark December,  Leander, who was nightly wont(What maid will not the tale remember?)  To cross thy stream, broad … [Read more...] about [A notable swim from history…]

[Apropos of this month's profile subject... and, perhaps, open water swimmers? And just because your editor loves to be reminded of this every now and again.]Sea Fever     By John MasefieldI must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the … [Read more...] about Sea Fever