A Writer's Moment: Gifts that are 'immeasurable'

A Writer's Moment: Gifts that are 'immeasurable':   “The gifts that one receives for giving are so immeasurable that it is almost an injustice to accept them.”  – Rod McKuen Born in Oakla...

Gifts that are 'immeasurable'

 

“The gifts that one receives for giving are so immeasurable that it is almost an injustice to accept them.” – Rod McKuen

Born in Oakland, CA on April 29, 1933 McKuen was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the 1960s and '70s.  By the time of his death in 2015 he had produced more than 30 books of poetry and hundreds of recordings of spoken word poetry, film soundtracks and classical music, earning two Academy Award nominations and one Pulitzer nomination along the way.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is McKuen’s,                                     

Twenty

People riding trains are nice

they offer magazines

and Chocolate-covered cherries,

they offer details you want most to know

                                      about their recent operations.

If I’d been riding home to you

I could have listened with both ears

but I was on my way away.

 

Across from me

there was a girl crying

                                    (long, silent tears)

while an old man held her hand.

It was only a while ago you said,

Take the seat by the window,

                                     you’ll see more.

 

I filled the seat beside me

with my coat and books.

I’m antisocial without you.

I’m antiworld and people too.

 

Sometimes I think

I’ll never ride a train again.

At least not away.

A Writer's Moment: 'Filled with things for our enjoyment'

A Writer's Moment: 'Filled with things for our enjoyment':   “Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. ...

'Filled with things for our enjoyment'

 

“Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up.”—Allen Klein
 

Born in New York City on April 26, 1938 Klein is an American humorist, author and lecturer whose writings focus on the stress relieving benefits of humor.  His work in that field has led to myriad writings and 8 books.  And he is the recipient of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

 

Among his books on the effectiveness of therapeutic humor is the best seller The Courage to Laugh: Humor, Hope, and Healing in the Face of Death and Dying.  Klein also has edited numerous “Happy” books of quotations, including Always Look on the Bright Side and Positive Thoughts for Troubling Times.

 

The term Eternal Optimist might not be a stretch in describing Klein.  “The lesson adults can learn (from using humor),” he said, “is that the world is filled with things for our enjoyment.”

A Writer's Moment: 'An itch that MUST be scratched'

A Writer's Moment: 'An itch that MUST be scratched':   “I've been to a lot of places and done a lot of things, but writing was always first. It's a kind of pain I can't do without.”...

'An itch that MUST be scratched'

 

“I've been to a lot of places and done a lot of things, but writing was always first. It's a kind of pain I can't do without.” – Robert Penn Warren

 

Born in Kentucky on this date in 1905, Penn Warren had the remarkable ability to put his reader both into a place and inside the lives of those about whom he was writing, whether it was in works of fiction or in his remarkable poetry.

 

Founder of the influential literary journal The Southern Review, he is the only person to win the Pulitzer Prize for both fiction and poetry, winning the latter award twice.  His first Pulitzer came for All The King’s Men, the 1947 novel about ruthless Louisiana politician Willie Stark.  It’s one of the few books to also be made into both a movie and an opera, with the movie version earning a Best Picture and Best Actor (Broderick Crawford) Academy Awards.

 

Penn Warren’s Pulitzers for poetry were awarded for Promises: Poems 1954-1956, which also won the National Book Award, and Now and Then.  In 1986 he was named America’s first. Poet Laureate.  Among his many other honors were The Presidential Medal of Freedom and The National Medal of Arts. 

 

 “How do poems grow?” Penn Warren wrote.  “They grow out of your life.   The urge to write poetry is like having an itch.  When the itch becomes annoying enough, you scratch it.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Finding purities in the confusion'

A Writer's Moment: 'Finding purities out of confusion':   “I'll tell you why I like writing: it's just jumping into a pool. I get myself into a kind of trance. I engage the world, but it...