A weak man
Fears his servant.
A weak man
is jealous of his
servant’s success.
A weak man
Convinces himself
that his servant
is a threat and
must be destroyed.
A weak man ignores
real threats to hurt
the servant he fears.
A weak man sacrifices
his throne, sacrifices
his family, sacrifices
his life.
Photograph by Romuald Charpentier via Unsplash. Used with permission.
For a good part of this year, I’ve been including links to stories about the American Revolution and the events leading up to it. There is, after all, an important date looming next year – the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It seems especially important now, with so many efforts to rewrite or even erase what actually happened. Tomorrow night, the Ken Burns 12-hour epic begins on PBS. Don Hagist of the Journal of the American Revolution describes what it was like to work with the producers. And here’s Smithsonian Magazine’s interview with Ken Burns.
This past week marked the 1,671st anniversary of the man who would shape Christianity for centuries. He wasn’t born in one of the power centers of the Roman Empire, but in the town of Tagaste in Numidia, or Algeria and Tunisia as we know the region today. Born in 354 A.D., he would die almost 76 years later, as barbarian invaders laid siege to the town of Hippo. Jason Clark at This is the Day has the story. Happy birthday, St. Augustine.
More Good Reads
America 250
George Washington: His Quest for Honor and Fame by Peter Henriques – book review by Timothy Symington at the Journal of the American Revolution.
Congress Creates the Marine Corps, November 10, 1775 – Eric Sterner at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
I visited the Museum of the American Revolution ahead of America's 250th birthday. Here are the coolest things I saw– Talia Lakritz at Business Insider.
An Anniversary of Colonial Endurance – Michael Auslin at The Patowmack Packet.
Writing and Literature
The Sea Change in History Research – Thomas Kidd.
Why the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Still Influences Mystery Today – Andreina Cordani at CrimeReads.
Force Field – Kathy Pories at South Writ Large.
Faith
A Vision from God, a Fear of Famine. How This Veteran Connects Farmers to Consumers – Beige Luciano-Adams at The Epoch Times.
The Pastor and the Pundit – Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.
Maker’s dozen: Twelve Churches by Fergus Butler-Gallie – Gavin McCormick at The Critic Magazine.
The Deconstruction of Evangelical Missions – Ted Esler at Mere Orthodoxy.
British Stuff
The sinister rise of Churchill revisionism – Andrew Roberts at The Spectator.
The Staffordshire Hoard – Annie Whitehead at Casting Light upon the Shadow.
Life and Culture
How Cruel and Kind the World Can Be – Susan Gregg Gilmore at South Writ Large.
I Was a Gentle Parent. Then My Kids Discovered the County Fair – Larissa Phillips at The Free Press.
Fields of Glory – Jeff Streeter at English Republic of Letters.
Poetry
What the Small City Can Do – Donald Antenen at Front Porch Republic on Ezra Pound.
Seneca, South Carolina – poem by Amalia Culp at South Writ Large.
“Independent Blossoms,” poem by Ameen Rihani – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
The Pen & the Spade: The Poems of Seamus Heaney – Jeremy Noel at Literary Review.
News Media
Why I Cut Ties with Science’s Top Publisher – Anna Krylov at The Free Press.
Your Way’s Better – Forrest Frank
The contrast startles:
one man, determined
to hunt down and
destroy, the other
who is chased,
dodging capture and
death, even when
his pursuer is
handed to him,
placed within reach
of a sword or knife.
Instead, the hunted
man holds back,
knowing his place,
knowing it’s not
for him to slay
an anointed king,
even if the world
would cheer. Instead,
he remains mindful
of his allegiance,
his faith, and he
sheaths his sword.
The unjust pursuer
is spared; the pursued
will ultimately be
blessed.
Photograph by Judesvoyage via Unsplash. Used with permission.
Some Friday Readings
“From Shadow,” poem by Duncan Campbell Scott – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.
A Different Kind of Ambition – Michael Kelley at Forward Progress.
A Significant Action for a Ministry to Move from Addition to Multiplication – Eric Geiger.
“Soldiers of Christ, Arise,” hymn by Charles Wesley – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.
A Bridge Through Time – poem by Seth Lewis.
Ishiguro was born in Japan but raised and educated in Britain. He’s likely best known for two works that out-British the British – Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day (which won the Booker Prize in 1989). But among many other books, he’s written stories set in Japan, delved into crime fiction (When We Were Orphans), and most recently written Klara and the Sun, which might be defined as literary science fiction.
And now he’s written song lyrics, many of which look suspiciously like poetry.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
Some Thursday Readings
A Burning Spear: Poetry and the Rebellion of Small, Good Things – Paul Pastor at Mere Orthodoxy.
“A Lament,” poem by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
By the Rues: A Poem for Veterans Day – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.
After Apple-Picking – poems by Megan Willome (and Rpbert Frost).
“A Spur to Genius,” poem by Charles Woodward Hutson – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.
One of its best-known practitioners was the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694). He often employed a kireji, a “cutting” word (we might say “centering”) and a seasonal reference, called a kigo.
Traditionalists will argue that haiku poems should be about nature, but once the form reached English and other languages, the range of themes expanded accordingly. Today, a poem on whatever subject is called a haiku if it follows the 5-7-5 syllable structure.
I’d been charmed by the fable The Sun and the Boy by poet Steven Flint, and I decided to take a look at his poetry. What I discovered was that he had more than 30 collections of haiku. I read three of them, and I find myself equally charmed.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
Some Tuesday Readings
Finding Meaning in the Madness of War – Phil Klay at The Free Press.
Lifeboat – poem by Franco Amati at Garbage Notes.
“What the Thrush Said,” poem by John Keats – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Graduation – poem by Pasquale Trozzolo at Every Day Poems.
Parable of the Interior – poem by Scott Cairns at Rabbit Room Poetry.
Imagine the panic, especially among Jews but also anyone deemed a potential enemy of Germany – poets, artists, writers, intellectuals, academics. Into that group fall two of the best-known contemporary artists – Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Picasso remains in Paris. Matisse meanders his way to southern France, eventually landing in Nice. Friends and family urge him to leave, but if he does, he says, what will be left of France?
It's an awkward time in the artist’s personal life. He happened to be in Paris when France surrendered to finalize divorce proceedings brought by his wife Amelie, and he fled the city like so many others. He also needs surgery, without which he will likely die. Doctors in Lyon will eventually perform it in 1941.
Henri Matisse, about the time of the war
Some biographers have suggested that Matisse collaborated with the Vichy government. Christopher Gorham came to a very different conclusion. After all, all three of Matisse’s grown children were involved in some kind of resistance activity. His daughter Marguerite would be arrested by the Gestapo in 1944, tortured, and packed off to a prison camp in Germany. His son Jean was in the Resistance. His son Pierre lived in New York; he was helping artists and especially Jewish ones like Marc Chagall get settled and established in exile.
The suggestion of collaboration against their father didn’t make sense. Gorham took a deeper look and did extensive research. The result is Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi-Occupied France.
Gorham tells the story of how Matisse spent the war years. He describes how the artist, unable to stand to paint, turned to the scissors and his famous cut-out designs. He tracks Matisse’s major movements, visitors and the friends who came to see him, and the role played by Lydia Delectorskaya, who became his business manager, housekeeper, muse, and often-used model. He explains how Nice was, for a time while controlled by the Italians, an oasis of safety and especially for Jews, and how it came to an end.
Christopher C. Gorham
The book also tells the supporting stories of Matisse’s children and ex-wife Amelie. Marguerite is arrested in 1944, after passing coded information on D-Day to the Resistance in Brittany. Jean evaded arrest, but he was part of the Resistance as well. Amelie was also arrested and imprisoned for typing Resistance materials. And Pierre in New York was the terminus for an underground railroad operation that smuggled artists to safety. In fact, Pierre may have singlehandedly if not largely been responsible for what became known as modern art in New York City and the city’s emergence as a world art center.
Matisse at War turns out to be a fascinating, often riveting read about art, war, Nazi thefts, collaborators, victims, people who risked everything to fight, and an ailing, elderly artist who chose to stay in occupied France and do the one thing he knew to do – make art.
Gorham previously published The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America, the story of Anna Marie Rosemberg. He’s written for the Washington Post, Literary Hub, Paper Brigade, and many other publications, and is a frequent speaker at conferences, literary events, and book club gatherings. He lives in Boston.
For a related story (at Dancing Priest), see how I came to hear Gorham speak just last week and briefly met him.
Some Monday Readings
What happened to literary politicians? – Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri at The Critic Magazine.
Massive New Map Reveals 300,000 Km of Ancient Roman Roads – Michelle Starr at Science Alert.
Union Chapel, Islington – Live Music and a Nonconformist History – A London Inheritance.
