A strange home

After Psalm 91

This is a home, I’m told;

a dwelling, a place to live

and abide, and yet one

of the strangest houses

I’ve encountered.

No walls, no windows, no door,

roofless, no systems to heat

or cool, and yet I walk

room to room without

encountering a single wall

or divider, and yet I know

when rooms change. Perhaps

the oddest aspect of this

odd dwelling is the sense

of security provided

by a shadow.

Photograph by Karen Arnold via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Saturday Good Reads

A son writes in The New Yorker about a cruise with his father, to explore the sites associated with The Odyssey. James Somers at The Atlantic laments the end of Google’s program to digitize all printed books (regardless of copyright status). And if you’ve ever wondered by online is the way it is, Freddie DeBoer has an answer.

Karen Swallow Prior writes about the word all writers love and hate – platform. The Guardian showcases a decade of award-winning British landscape photography. Some cool poetry and articles about poetry. The actor David Suchet reads the Gospel of Mark at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

And a note on what is my very first NOT good read. If you haven’t seen the song by Rachel Bloom and friends on “Bill Nye Saves the World,” then you don’t know just how decadent American culture has become. Nye is the self-proclaimed savior and spokesperson for science, and marched for science last weekend. I’m embarrassed for him.

Life and Culture

A Father’s Final Odyssey – Daniel Mendelsohn at The New Yorker.

Where Human Beings Love to Live – Dr. Steven Garber at The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, & Culture.

Why is online the way it is? – Freddie deBoer.

Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria – James Somers at The Atlantic.

Writing

Only One Platform Will Last – Karen Swallow Prior at The Gospel Coalition.

Working at this desk: Happiness itself – David Murray at Writing Boots.

Art and Photography

iPhone Spring and Cold Fog at Dawn – Tim Good at Photography by Tiwago.

A decade of award-winning British landscape photography – in pictures – The Guardian (Hat Tip: J of India).

Bostal: Nick Bodimeade’s Paintings that Celebrate Views of the Downs – Creative Boom.

Poetry

Saving Place – Jerry Barrett at Gerald the Writer.

Impossible and unending (revised) – Jim Schmotzer.

Monday Muse: Derek Walcott – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

The Rapture – Reese Conner at The Missouri Review.

Review of “A Little Book on Form” by Robert Haas – Mary Harwell Sayler at The Poetry Editor.

Faith

The Cloud of Unknowing – Rick Wilcox at Literary Life.

The Gospel According to Mark, read by actor David Suchet – St. Paul’s Cathedral.

British Stuff

How an Alcohol-Hating English Preacher Founded Global Tourism – Peter Schwartzstein at Smithsonian.

Music

This jazz version of Mozart’s ‘Rondo Alla Turca’ is cooler than you’re expecting – ClassicFM.

Oldest Footage of London Ever – Yestervid

Painting: Man reading, oil on canvas (1904-1908) by John Singer Sargent.

This shelter business

After Psalm 91

This shelter business:

why, I don’t know, I see

the word shelter and I imagine

a desert of sand and searing heat

rocks burning at the touch

and heat of course the heat

a searing sun sucking coolness

from the ground

from my skin.

And yet this shelter, I find,

is a shadow arching over me

protecting me from heat

a refuge from dust and wind

a shield staring down the terror

a shadow

a cleft in the rock

sheltering me from enemies

sheltering me from others

from myself

Photograph by Rajesh Misra via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.