The Early Poetry of Catherine Abbey Hodges

It’s something of a truism to say a poet is in love with words and language. I mean, if you’re serious about writing poetry, you have to at least like words and language, right? But part of that love is also a love for how words and language are use to fit together, or oppose other words, or the sounds they make, the feelings they evoke, the flow that creates something both recognizable and different.  

Those were my thoughts as I read through two earlier poetry collections by Catherine Abbey Hodges, Tweetspeak Poetry’s reigning Poet Laura (I used the word “reigning” deliberately; our Poet Lauras do not merely hold office). I had read her most recent collection, Empty Me Full, and found myself moving toward consideration of the big questions of life. Then I read her first two collections, Instead of Sadness (2015) and Raft of Days (2017), and I discovered a poet who loves using words and language.

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

Some Thursday Readings

 

“The Dark Hills,” poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

“Lile an Usurp’d Town,” sonnet by John Donne – K.S. Bernstein at Apple Blossoms in a Mournful Wood.

 

“The Roundel,” poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Windowsill Posies – poem by Seth Lewis.

 

2 Corinthians – poem by Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

Finding Story Ideas in an Unexpected Place

Sometimes, you find story ideas in the least likely places. 

The first inspiration for my historical novel Brookhaven was the family Bible. It had been passed down from my great-grandfather to his youngest son, my grandfather, then my father, and then to me. For decades, it existed in the condition my father and I received it – wrapped in an old brown paper grocery bag and tied with twine. 

 

I’d paid most attention to the family records, six pages of births, deaths, and marriages. I’d removed the wrappings and checked those pages not long after my father gave it to me. The writing was all in one hand, my great-grandfather’s, and the writing had begun to fade. To preserve the records, I typed them into a document.

 

When I finally had the Bible conserved in 2022, I learned from the conservator that the volume had been printed about 1870 and was one of hundreds of thousands generally sold by door-to-door salesmen. These Bibles became popular after the Civil War, especially for the family records sections. So many families had lost loved ones that these Bibles offered a way to commemorate the people who’d died.

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW blog. 

Photograph: A page from the family Bible's records. 

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Klavan’s Law – Andrew Klavan at The New Jerusalem.

 

It took 100 years for someone to point out what van Gogh had hidden in his ‘Café Terrace at Night’ – Annie Reneau at Upworthy.

 

Lament for the Rohirrim – J.R.R. Tolkien via The Imaginative Conservative.

Muriel Rukeyser: Protester, Political Activist, and Poet

I’d never heard of the poet Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980). Okay, I may be a cretin, but in my defense, she died while my poetry diet was generally confined to the British crows (Romantics, Victorians, Moderns), and the famous American poets like Edgar Les Masters, Sara Teasdale, Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg.  

Two years ago, Library of America has a sale, and included were a slew of volumes of “selected poems” for their American Poets Project. Among the many poets included were collections by Sandburg, Anne Stevenson, John Berryman, Edna St. Vincent Millary, John Greenleaf Whittier, Edith Wharton, and many others. One of those “others” was Rukeyser.

 

Muriel Rukeyser: Selected Poems was published in 2004. The list price for a new copy on Amazon is $20. LOA still has it on sale for $7.00. I bought the LOA volume, along with several other books and avoided shipping costs. Copies of her collections, collected poems, and selected poems are still in print; the benefit of the LOA version is that it provides a concise introduction to her poetry ,and it was edited by poet Adrienne Rich (1929-2012).(I’d previously read Rich’s poetry. I’m not a total cretin.)

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

Some Tuesday Readings

 

3 – Contingencies – poem by L.L. Barkat at Every Day Poems.

 

“Crossing the Bar,” poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Crawling Down Wombat Holes: Australia Poems – Lucas Smith at The Sprawl of Quality.

“The French Vendetta” by Simon Michael

London barrister Charles Holcombe finds himself in an unusual situation. He’s between cases; no courtroom, no one to defend, no thinly disguised anti-Semitism to ignore. 

He’s on vacation.

 

Charles and his wife Sally take their young daughter Leia for a holiday to Paris and southern France. They’re offered free lodging in southern France; a house in a small village. They’re enjoying their stay so much that Charles begins to think he might want to buy a second residence in this beautiful part of the country.

 

That is, until he gets knocked out one night and finds himself imprisoned in a cellar. And he finds himself in a different kind of trail where his own life is at stake.

 

Simon Michael

And it’s all tied to what happened during World War II, when the area was a center of resistance activity to the Germans and the Vichy government. What happened during a crackdown after an attack by the resistance was believed to be understood, and the villagers had a long memory. Charles will have to find out what really happened; his life and the lives of others are at stake.

 

The French Vendetta is the eleventh novel in the Charles Holborne legal thriller series by British author Simon Michael. I don’t know how he doesn’t, but Michael produces one engrossing novel after another, somehow topping each previous story with one that’s even better. The French Vendetta is not only a good mystery; it’s also one of the best novels I’ve read this year.

 

Michael studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

The Charles Holborne novels have become one of favorite crime / mystery series. 

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Force of Evil by Simon Michel.

 

My review of The Final Shot by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Nothing But the Truth by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of Death, Adjourned by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Fall Guy by Simon Michael.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

Why I’m Not Interested in Aliens – Adam Smith at Plough.

 

Spiritual Yearning in an Age of Secularization – David McPherson at Public Discourse.

 

Free Speech Will Survive – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

Jacob’s Island, Bermondsey – A London Inheritance.

The paralyzed man

After Luke 5:17-26 

They bring the man,

paralyzed, on a makeshift

bed, carrying him,

seeking a way to the one

who heals, trying but

failing to break through

the dense crowds in and

surrounding the house.

One of them points

to the roof, and they

carry him up the stairs,

pushing aside tiles,

dust and debris falling

into the room below.

The widen the hole

and lower the man

into the room below.

And the one who heals

marvels at their faith,

and he responds, simply:

“Man, your sins are

forgiven.”

 

Illustration: Jesus heals the paralytic man at Capernaum, drawing (1780) by Bernhard Rode (1725-1787).

Some Sunday Readings

 

Can Science Explain Sparkling Rivers? – T.J. Holland at Sacramentality. 

 

‘Young Man, You Look Miserable’ – David Mathis at Desiring God.

 

What Led to Christianity Today’s Crisis? – Daniel Williams at Politics of the Cross.

 

Five Counseling Missteps and the Holy Spirit’s Help – Deepak Reju at Desiring God.

Saturday Good Reads – Nov. 7, 2026

This past week, we watched the movie Pressure (2206), about the final 72 hours of the run-up to the D. Day invasion in World War II. The top three stars are Brendan Fraser as Dwight Eisenhower, Damian Lewis as a rather nasty Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and Andrew Scott in an incredible performance as British meteorologist James Stagg. It is Stagg who must determine if the weather allows a go or no-go for the invasion. It’s riveting. History Extra has a podcast on the true story behind the movie.  

Historians (and everybody else) will likely argue until Doomsday about the role the Christian faith played in the founding of the United States. But the U.S. Constitution was itself based on several state constitutions, which were based on various Puritan covenants, which were based on the Bible. Jerry Newcombe at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics explains the importance of the first English Bible printed in the United States.

 

We know that C.S. Lewis’s Anglican faith helped shape the writing of The Chronicles of Narnia. But what about J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings? D.J. Taylor at Literary Hub explains how it was Tolkien’s Catholic faith that shaped not only LOTR but all of his writings. 

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Hessian Origins of the Headless Horseman – Evan Portman at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Atlas of Independence now available in audio – Chris Mackowski at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

How Three Powers Became Three Branches – Charles Lincoln at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

Life and Culture

 

NYC public schools deceived me into thinking my son was a straight-A math student. But he can’t do fractions, basic algebra – David Spector at the New York Post.

 

News Media

 

The Victorian Origins of Investigative Journalism – Stephen Donovan and Matthew Rubery at History Today.

 

A Daring Suggestion for Netflix – Tim Challies.

 

Writing and Literature

 

On Longsuffering – Jacob Adkins at Front Porch Republic.

 

How J.R.R. Tolkien’s Strong Catholic Faith Influenced His Writing – D.J. Taylor at Literary Hub.

 

Magic in Middle-Earth – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The Inconstant Reader – Jeffrey Streter at English Republic of Letters.

 

British Stuff

 

Charles Dickens’ writing chalet among UK landmarks at risk of being lost – Emily Beament at The Independent.

 

Israel

 

The End of an Era – Michael Oren at Clarity.

 

Poetry

 

“Low Tide,” poem by Sara Teasdale – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Love’s Fine Wit: A Reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 23 – K.S. Bernstein at Apple Blossoms in a Mournful Wood.

 

Duc in Altum – poem by Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

 

Federal Prison Spontaneous Worship Moment – Lizzie Morgan

Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas by  Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). 

A murderous mob

After Luke 4:14-30 

Outraged by his words,
furious he would
suggest that others
were worthy of love,
they resorted 
to violence, dragging
him out of town,
this man they knew,
the carpenter’s son,
the man whom they
believed had blasphemed
because he suggested
others had gained
God’s favor. They drove
him to the hilltop,
prepared to cast him
down, prepared to kill,
but he simply moved
through their midst,
away from the cliff,
away from the hilltop,
and left.

 

Painting: The Brow of the Hill Near Nazareth, oil on canvas by James Tissot (1836-1902), Brooklyn Museum.

Some Friday Readings

 

Harvest in Fearful Times – Melissa Edgington at Your Mom Has a Blog.

 

“This Year,” poem by Ku Sang – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Uniting Care and Rigor in Education – Elizabeth Stice at Front Porch Republic.

 

NYC public schools deceived me into thinking my son was a straight-A math student. But he can’t do fractions, basic algebra – David Spector at the New York Post.

 

Remixing Wonders – Seth Lewis.