Poets and Poems: Paul Kingsnorth and “These Were the Stories of My People”

I’ve read Paul Kingsnorth for years, first his novels, then his poems, and then his essays. The writer who began as something of a radical environmentalist who discovered faith, explored Ireland’s holy wells and met wild saints, became a popular speaker, and, in a way, anticipated the promise and peril of artificial intelligence and the rise of what he calls “the machine.” It would be an oversimplification to call him England’s (or Ireland’s, since he lives there now) answer to Wendell Berry. But there would also be some truth to that oversimplification. 

Bery often wrote and spoke about industrial agriculture and the death f rural communities. Those themes are also part of Kingsnorth’s “machine,” but he goes further. He includes technology in general, and particularly digital technology, global economic systems, and the aspects of modern life he sees as soul-crushing. 

 

I like his fascinating, somewhat strange novels set in what appears to be Anglo-Saxon times. I’m taken with his essays and recordings of his speeches. And I like his two published poetry collections, Kidland And Other Poems (2011) and Songs from the Blue River (2018). Now Kingsnorth has a third collection, There Were the Stories of My People: New and Selected Poems.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Thursday Readings

 

“Out in the Dark,” poem by Edward Thomas and “No!,” poem by Thomas Hood – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

May 15, 1886 – poem by Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

 

Poet Laura: A Mirthful. Generative, Thoughtful, and Zany Start – Catherine Abbey Hodges ar Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

Notes on Making a Canonical Anthology: The Oxford Book of American Poetry – David Lehman at The Hudson Review.

Some Wednesday Readings - Nov. 4, 2026

  

The Plot Twist That Saved My Life – Zelly Ruskin at Writer’s Digest.

 

Army of Northern Virginia: General Lee’s Army – Harrison Mark at World History Encyclopedia. 

 

Teaching Tragedy in Tragic Times: Relying on Dante and Aristotle – Christine Norvell at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

The Bauhaus Masters’ Houses, Dessau – Andrew Eberlin at Photos, photographers and photobooks.

 

The Waning Reputation of a Great American Writer – Tyler David Rigdon on O. Henry.

 

The Fogs & Smogs of Old London – Spitalfields Life.

 

SLAM Portrait: David Burnett, head of exhibition and installations design – Emily Wasserman at St. Louis Art Museum.

 

Behind the Scenes of “Women Impressionists and the Land” – St. Louis Art Museum

Photograph: William Sydney Porter, aka O. Henry (1862-1910).

Poets and Poems: Rachel Hicks and “Accumulated Lessons in Displacement”

Poet and writer Rachel Hicks has lived in some unusual places. She was born in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains, and she’s lived in India, Pakistan, Jordan, the Republic of Congo, Hong Kong, China, and the United States. Her nomadic background comes into full play with her debut poetry collection, Accumulated Lessons in Displacement. 

When I started reading, I expected to see those international experiences reflected in the poems. And they’re there. What I did not expect was the find so many poems of a haunting beauty, that leaves you with a sense of awe. But that’s what I found. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Crow – poem by Kendall Dunkelberg at Every Day Poems.

 

“They are all Gone into the World of Light,” poem by Henry Vaughn – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Let’s Celebrate with an Ode to Joy – Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Monday Readings - Nov. 2, 2026

  

Some November Murders – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

‘Thought to be lost forever’: After 2,000 years, a library buried by Pompeii’s eruption is finally revealing its secrets – Tom Howarth at BBC Science Focus.

 

Inheriting Wendell Berry – Willis Jenkins at The Hedgehog Review.

 

G.K. Chesterton’s Nightmare: The Man Who Was Thursday – Jordan Poss at Miller’s Book Review.

 

The Contrarian’s Guide to Reading the Classics – K.S. Bernstein at Apple Blossoms in a Mournful Wood.

 

On the Naming of Death – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

Weather Photographer of the Year 2026 Shortlist – Royal Meteorological Society.

 

Great Maze Pond and Guy’s Hospital – A London Inheritance.

 

Photograph: Guy’s Hospital, London, via Wikipedia.

The shock of fulfillment

After Luke 4:14-30 

In his own hometown,

in his own familiar

synagogue, he stands

to read the Scripture,

as was the practice.

He reads from the prophet,

the prophet Isaiah, the words

of the anointed one, and says

they are fulfilled that day,

in their own hearing. 

 

The response is predictable:

wonder, and open hearts,

and kind words, and

acceptance until he cites

the blessings given

to the Sidonian and

the Syrian. The response

is predictable: wrath and

anger and outrage and

violence, all the way

to attempted murder.

 

Painting: Jesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue, watercolor over graphite by James Tissot (1836-1902), Brooklyn Museum. 

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Great Pumpkin and the True Meaning of Christmas – Kelly Keller at Story Warren. 

 

The Pull of Rome and the Promise of Grace – Chris Castaldo at Desiring God.

 

Here We Must Stand: Eight Reformation Commitments for all Christians – Al Mohler at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.

 

Going No Contact?: Ruth and Faithful Presence – Jessica Lee at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Reformation Day Myths – R. Scott Clark at The Heidelblog.

Saturday Good Reads – Oct. 31, 2026

It’s Halloween, and we have several good reads for the day: Bradley Birzer looks at Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House;  Amelia Freidline has a go at Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; you can read about “The Witch Hunter Who Helped Shape America’s Witch Trials;” Beth Daley at the Conversation explains where the modern vampire originated, and it’s not where you might think. Joseph Bottum provides the background of Robert Herrick’s poem “The Hag;” And Spitalfields Life takes you on a tour of “The Tombs of Old London.” 

There has been an abundance of posts and articles lately about the death of reading, the end of the traditional book, the decline in book sales, and so one. Everyone seems ready to pronounce the death of books as we know them. Not so fast, says Daniel Darling at One Little Word. He makes the case for why paper books will endure.

 

In the category of “I am not making this up,” Nellie Bowles at The Free Press cited a new report by the United Nations Women organization, “Facts and figures: Women, peace and security.” The big concern: nearly one in four civilian deaths associated with war and violent conflicts around the world are women and girls. The organization also highlighted the statistic with a dramatic graphic on X, formerly known as Twitter. The report does acknowledge, in an offhanded kind of way, that three in four civilian deaths in war and violent conflict are men and boys, but I suppose we need to focus on what’s important.

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

The Sentence That Defines America – M.C. Murphy at The Coolidge Review.

 

Discovering White Plains – Bert Dunkerly at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Writing and Literature

 

What Haunted George Orwell – John Miller at The Wall Street Journal (story unlocked). 

 

The flesh and bones of Gulliver’s Travels – David Womersley at Engelberg’s Ideas.

 

Souls at Stake – Algis Valiunas at First Things Magazine on the Gothic novel. 

 

Have a Plan for Your Writing – Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

 

The Daunting Art of Selling Fewer Books – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

American Stuff

 

New Monument Rising: The Gateway Arch Is Completed in 1965 – Jason Clark at Ths Is the Day.

 

In Defense of Daylight Savings Time – Brevin Anderson at Front Porch Republic.

 

British Stuff

 

Descended from Woden: Why Anglo-Saxon Kings Claimed a Pagan God as Their Ancestor – Calogero Nicosia at English Historical Fiction Authors.

 

Poetry

 

Reading Emily Dickinson at Hallowtide – LuElla D’Amico at Church Life Journal.

 

The Famous Christian Poem We’ve Never Heard Of – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic.

 

“La Belle Dame sans Merci,” poem by John Keats – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Faith

 

Your Cross – Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

 

What Remains of Our Remains – Emily Carrington at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

And Can It Be – The Village Chapel Worship

 Painting: Man Reading a Letter in His Study, oil on oak panel (circa 1670) by Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685).

The news travels

After Luke 4:14-30 

The baptism

in the river,

the temptation

in the wilderness,

had passed;

now was the time

to return.

As it did,

the news moved

out in reports,

in waves, often

traveling ahead

of him, creating

interest and

curiosity, inspiring

hope and expectation,

across the Galilee

and surrounding

areas, a growing

fame preceding him,

wherever he went.

 

Photograph by Absolut Vision via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“Wakening,” poem by John Deane – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Three Ways to Walk with Those Who Grieve – Kirsten Black at Faithful Paradox.

 

In the Silence of God – poem by Mark Rico at Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

“O Come, Thou Traveler Unknown,” hymn by Charles Wesley – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

My Old, Obsolete Knowledge – Seth Lewis.