Poets and Poems: Robert McDowell and “The Excellent Assembly”

If you’re older than 29 tor 30, you know precisely where you were on Sept. 11, 2001. My wife was at home, our oldest son was in college, and our youngest son was in school. I’d gone early to my small office in downtown Kirkwood, Mo.  

I turned on my small, portable television to watch the news. Instead, I saw a large passenger jet crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. Another jet had crashed into the North Tower 18 minutes earlier. A little more than 30 minutes later came the crash into the Pentagon. And then the crash into the field in Pennsylvania. 

 

Everything changed that day. Airline safety screening changed forever. A war started. The people who were the masterminds behind it were hunted down. But something deeper changed, something indefinable – the idea of the United States we carried in our heads.

 

Twenty-five years have passed. To remember that day, to remember the people on those planes and in those buildings, the policemen and firemen who gave their lives, and the families who lost loved ones, writer and poet Robert McDowell has written The Excellent Assembly. It’s a collection of 52 poems, not based on real people, but imagined to describe the types of people who died and were affected.

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

Some Thursday Readings

 

The Weeping World: A reading of Shakespeare’s ninth sonnet – K.S. Bernstein at Apple Blossoms in a Mournful Wood.

 

“Song of the Chattahoochee,” poem by the Sidney Lanier – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

What Wendell Berry Saw – Jason Edwards at Front Porch Republic.

 

“Dear Friends,” poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

“The Pobble Who Has No Toes,” poem by Edward Lear – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Reading Wendell Berry’s ‘III’ – Megan Willome at Poetry for Life.

 

Poet Laura: By Heart – Donna Hilbert at Tweetspeak Poetry.

This Didn’t Happen to a Friend of Mine

It showed up as a Facebook memory, a story I hadn’t thought about in years. I’d posted in August of 2009 on my blog and linked it from Facebook. The title was, “This Happened to a Friend of Mine.” The post received a grand total of one comment, from someone named “Anonymous.”

 

I started reading it. And I realize it hadn’t happened to a friend of mine. The premise was a variation of “asking for a friend.”

 

Seventeen years later, I’m not sure why I posted it. The situation had happened two months before. The account I posted was mostly true but not entirely, some things disguised or slightly changed to discuss what happened without pointing to specific people. It was an incredible difficult time, the kind of story that happens all the time in the corporate world but never makes LinkedIn. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Photograph by Arlington Research via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Murders for September – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

Sweat the Technique: On Writing Process and Possibilities – Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.

 

Wendell Berry and the Choice of Life – Elizabeth Stice at Front Porch Republic.

Poets and Poems: Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and “The Wonderment”

Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer starts this poetry collection with an explanation of what inspired it. I can’t say I’ve read or heard an explanation quite like it. Her father, on his deathbed, “his eyes open but unseeing,” said a phrase, an incomplete sentence: “From our birth…to our death…the wonderment.” 

In other words, all of it, all of life, is full of wonder. The great mountain vistas. The ocean sunsets. A baby’s laugh. But also, the unexpected death, the illness, the hard times, grief. All of it contains a sense of wonder. Visiting the place where her son died, which she wrote about in her previous collection, The Unfolding, and his grave. 

 

In The Wonderment: Poems, published today, Trommer writes about some of the things that fill her with wonder. 

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

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Wild Blackberries – poem by David Whyte.

 

“A Dirge,” poem by Christina Rossetti – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

When an East Cast Girl Sees Saguaros –poem by Aberdeen Livingstone at Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

Winners of Third Annual First Things Poetry Prize – First Things Magazine.

Two Hercule Poirot Short Stories by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie has the distinction of being the only crime writer who created two equally famous and revered characters – Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot. I’ve read almost all the novels featuring both amateur sleuths, and I can’t say which character I like most. They’re so completely different; what they have in common is that they share an ability to solve complicated crimes, almost impossible for anyone else in the stories to solve. 

I’ve discovered that I haven’t read many of the short stories featuring the characters (and I don’t think they ever appeared in the same story or novel). But I started stumbling over them – a link, an ad, something – and I know see that Christie did as well with her stories as she did with her novels.

 

Two recent Hercule Poirot stories I’ve read are The Incredible Theft and Problem at Sea.

 

The Incredible Theft was first published in 1937. It’s set in the classic country home of a lord with strong connections to the British Air Ministry. During a weekend gathering of friends and acquaintances, some significant plans for a new bomber are stolen. The problem is that everyone seems to be able to account for where they were when the theft happened. Solution: bring in M. Hercule Poirot, “that finny little foreigner,” to solve the case. And he does in a classic Agatha Christie fashion.

 

Agatha Christie

Problem at Sea was first published in 1939. A group of ocean voyagers are in route to Alexandria, Egypt, include M. Poirot. He watches all the conversations and interactions carefully, because something is clearly off. When a woman is found dead in her locked cabin, thee case seems to have no suspects at all; even Poirot heard her calling out, saying she was staying behind while others visited the port. But once again, he employs those “little gray cells” to solve the puzzle.

 

Both stories are approaching 90 years old, but it says something about Christie’s skill that they still sound almost contemporary. Each can be read in under 30 minutes, making them easy, quick entertainment.

 

Related:

“The Lamp” – A Ghost Story by Agatha Christie. 

Two Short Stories by Agatha Christie.

Two Miss Marple Short Stories by Agatha Christie.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

The British Evacuation of New York and the Fate of Loyalist Americans – Keli Holt at Just Enough History.

 

Over a Century of Willa Cather – Bradley Birzer.

 

Blood on Our Hands – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

 

Stay Organized: Keep Track and Back Up Your Writing – Dean Wesley Smith.

 

Religion & Rhetoric: The Significance of Religion to the Patriot Cause in the American Revolution – Ben Powers at Emerging Revolutionary War Era. 

Salt and light

After Matthew 5:13-16 

You are both

salt and light,

salt to season

and enhance, 

and light

to shine so

others may

see. You are

salt to flavor

the message,

you are light

to illuminate

the truth.

You are salt

to preserve;

you are light

to dispel

the darkness.

 

Photograph by Tim Hufner via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

How Do I Live in God’s Presence Every Day? – Daniel Hyde at Reformation 21.

 

The Defining Mark of the Christian – Robb Brunansky at The Cripplegate.

 

Driving Through Cornfields: Past the End of the World – Timothy Willard at Rapt.

Saturday Good Reads - Sept. 5, 2026

Since his death on Monday, people have been writing about Wendell Berry (1934-2026). Including me at Tweetspeak Poetry. Below are quite a few links – memories, remembrances, assessments. I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s words, “Let us endeavor so to live so that when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry.” Wendell Berry was loved, and he left a deep mark. 

In late August, I wrote about how The Norton Anthology of English Literature shaped my understanding of poetry. It turns out I wasn’t the only one. Mark Bauerlein at Portico discusses his own Norton experience. 

 

The author of the blog Spitalfields Life took a walk along the Ridgeway, considered to be the oldest road in Britain. He wrote about the experience, and he took pictures, too. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Wendell Berry

 

Stewarding Land and Language – Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Love’s Shadowless Light – Jeffrey Bilbro at Front Porch Republic.

 

In Memory: Wendell Berry – Gracy Olmstead at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Wendell Berry’s Eternal Story – Paul Kingsnorth at First Things Magazine.

 

The Once and Future Wisdom of Wendell Berry – Rod Dreher at The Free Press.

 

Wendell Berry, writer and prophet, was extolled by many as a modern-day prophet – Yonat Shimron and Adelle Banks at Religio News Service.

 

Wendell Berry’s vision of a sacred world – Norman Wirzba at The Christian Century.

 

Why Wendell Berry mattered – Nate Hanrahan at The Spectator.

 

The Real Ideal – Paul Pastor at Front Porch Republic.

 

Remembering Wendell Berry – Gracy Olmstead at Granola.

 

A Voice for My Generation – Samuel Heard at Front Porch Republic.

 

Writing and Literature

 

We Still Need Fairy Tales – Ashley Hales at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Life and Culture

 

When Everything Is Forgotten – Joseph Orso at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Art

 

Riding the Waves of Stone Sea, St. Louis Art Museum’s Largest artwork – Emily Wasserman at St. Louis Art Museum blog. 

 

Movies

 

20 Years Later, ‘Amazing Grace’ Producer Says Wilberforce’s Story Still Resonates – Michael Foust at Crosswalk.

 

Poetry

 

“Last Supper,” poem by Elinor Wylie – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Derrick Porter, Hoxton Poet – Spitalfields Life.

 

Faith

 

How to Pray When You Fel Like You Pray the Same Thing Every Day – Courtney Reissig at Crossway.

 

Known by Heaven – Josh Groban and Lauren Daigle

 Photograph: Wendell Berry Reading by Ben Aguilar via The Berry Center.

Light

After Matthew 5:13-16 

Light shines,

light illumines,

dispelling darkness

allowing truth to be

seen. No one uses

light to hide it,

or bring it. Light

is used to shine

upon the truth.

 

Put your light

upon a stand,

elevated to shine

in the household,

in the village,

in the land,

in the world.

 

Let your light shine

for others to see,

to allow others

in darkness come

into the light.

 

Photograph by Dyu-Ha via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“The Beginning of Contemplation,” poem by Gail Fox – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

“The Kingdom of God,” poem by Francis Thompason – Megan Willome at Poetry for life.

 

Eclipsing the Sun – Seth Lewis.

 

The Ministry of Saying Less – Peter Mead at Biblical Preaching.