Month: March 2017
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Morning note
Jeanne Bryner Warren, Ohio, United States Poet’s statement: “Morning note” was a response to finding my husband’s note. Couples who have come through this type of grief know its depth. There are many gravesites on our journey. Names we dare not speak burn themselves inside our hearts. Morning note In a few moments I’ll…
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Breese Nursing Home: an exploration of humanity and love
Ellen Jantzen Newport Beach, California, United States I attended a nursing home Christmas party at the Breese Nursing Home in Illinois the week before Christmas, 2010 and was very moved by the residents and their families; it was a life-changing event for me. Before, while visiting my mother-in-law, I would divert my eyes when…
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Answers to Literary Quiz #1
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre. Charles Dickens: Hard Times. Albert Camus: The Stranger. George Orwell: Animal Farm. Ernest Hemingway: Farewell to Arms. Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi. Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express. The Bible: Book of Ruth. Henry James: Portrait of a Lady. Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina.
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Literary Quiz – #1
FIRST SENTENCES OF GREAT CLASSICS TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE! There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. Mr. Jones, of the Manor farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night,…
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Another Found Poem – Anatomy of Love
John A. Vanek St. Petersburg, Florida, United States Poet’s statement: I am a physician by training, but a poet by passion. Poetry provides a vehicle that takes me to places that logic won’t go. It is a way of understanding the incomprehensible, both in life and in medicine. I now prescribe poetry PRN (“as needed”),…
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Balloons
John A. Vanek St. Petersburg, Florida, USA Poet’s statement: Poetry provides a vehicle that takes me to places that logic won’t go, a way of understanding the incomprehensible, both in life and in medicine. I now prescribe poetry PRN (“as needed”), but warn that it may hurt a little. My poems are peopled with my family,…
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Always, Autumn Leaves
John A. Vanek St. Petersburg, Florida, United States Poet’s statement: Poetry provides a vehicle that takes me to places that logic won’t go, a way of understanding the incomprehensible, both in life and in medicine. I now prescribe poetry PRN (“as needed”), but warn that it may hurt a little. My poems are peopled with…
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Neighbors
Johanna Shapiro A well dressed skeleton Photograph by Caley McIntyre Northwestern University Feinberg Medical School, Chicago, Illinois Class of 2011 and Mexico Fulbright-Garcia Robles Alum, 2009 http://caleyelguero.wordpress.com Neighbors Death is not my lover – that would be morbid – nor even my best friend – though some say he can be that –…
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A Web of Days – This is a Test – Not Again
Joannie Stangeland Poet’s Statement: Joannie Stangeland wrote these poems for a friend who was fighting breast cancer. Her friend didn’t need help with cooking or driving—and Joannie wanted to support her in some way, so she wrote. What began as one poem flooded into a collection of about 20, and the poems helped Joannie…
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Prayer for my Village – When a Friend Asks Me What It’s Like to See Someone Die
Jeanne Bryner Warren, Ohio, United States Poet’s statement: Both of these poems were written while I was at Vermont Studio Center on an international fellowship. Artists from all disciplines, states, and nations ate together, worked in their studios, presented slides, and gave readings of works-in-progress. It was precious. And I thought, why must we…