Poets and Poems: Emily Patterson and "So Much Tending Remains"

I’ve been a father for 45 years, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that you never stop being a parent. How you a parent changes, of course, from a child’s total dependence upon you to increasing independence and ultimately becoming their own person. But, as a parent, you’re always navigating parenthood. 

Emily Patterson began learning this lesson early with the birth of her daughter during the pandemic lockdown year of 2020. She reflects on the first two years of her child’s life in So Much Tending Remains, a collection of 22 poems covering the period from birth to toddlershood. 

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

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Oxford University researcher uncovers hidden copy of Shakespeare sonnet – University of Oxford News.

 

Beyond All Words – a love poem by James Tweedie at Society of Classical Poets.

 

“Patrick the Paul of the Gael,” poem by Robert Farren – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

“The Song of Wandering Aengus,” poem by William Butler Yeats – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Anniversary Poem – Latie Kalisz at Every Day Poems. 

"Murder on the Train" by Faith Martin

DI Hillary Greene, now a civilian consultant to the Thames Valley police, is taking some vacation (she would call it a holiday), heading to Hay-on-Rye in Wales, the town famous for its bookstores. It’s something of a working vacation – she’s published a crime novel, and she’s planning to visit the bookstores to promote the book.  

Staying a small inn, she’s charmed by both the inn and the other guests, a fairly broad array of people from England, Ireland, Scotland, and the Unted States. When it’s proposed that they all take the steam railway up a nearby mountain, Hillary goes along, although the small rail cars mean she must ride in another car. Which turns out to be a good thing, because one of the guests is murdered, and no one saw it happen.

 

If anyone knows the drill, it’s Hillary. She tells the others what to do, arranges for the police to come, convinces the constable to call in homicide detectives – and she inevitably finds herself co-opted into the investigation (“seconded” is the official term). To complicate matters even further, a local hoodlum decides to target Hillary and find a convenient way to kill her. 

 

Faith Martin

Murder on the Train is the 21^st and so far final novel in the DI Hillary Greene series by British author Faith Martin. Published in 2024, it’s as good as any of its predecessors; Martin has maintained a high level of quality throughout the series. There’s no word as yet when or if there will be a 22^nd story; Martin has been developing another series, and the Hillary Greene series has been considerably deemphasized on her web site. 

 

In addition to the DI Hillary Greene novels, Martin (a pen name for Jacquie Walton) has also published the Ryder and Loveday novels as well as the Jenny Sterling mysteries. Under the name Joyce Cato, she has published several non-series detective stories. Both Cato and Martin are also pen names for Walton. (Walton has another pen name as well – Maxine Barry, under which she wrote 14 romance novels.) A native of Oxford, she lives in a village in Oxfordshire.

 

I’ve read all 21 books in the DI Hillary Greene series and enjoyed every one of them. Here’s hoping that she’ll make another appearance.

 

Related:

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin.

Murder at the University by Faith Martin. 

 Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Village by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Family by Faith Martin.

 Murder at Home by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.

 Murder in the Mansion by Faith Martin.

 Murder by Fire by Faith Martin.

 Murder at Work by Faith Martin.

 Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin.

 Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin.

 Murder Never Misses by Faith Martin.

 Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin.

 Murder in Mind by Faith Martin.

 Hillary’s Final Case by Faith Martin. 

 Hillary’s Back! by Faith Martin.

 Murder Now and Then by Faith Martin.

Murder in the Parish by Faith Martin.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

Haunted by the Ghost of Evangeline – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Anatomy of a British screen classic – Jeffrey Meyers at The Critic Magazine.

 

Places That Remember Themselves: The Erosion of Memory in an Unmoored World – Holly Stockley at Front Porch Republic.

 

Splendor of Fire, Speed of Light: A Meander around St. Patrick – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Patrick: self-consciousness and sainthood – Padraig O Tuama at Poetry Unbound.

Final words

After I Peter 5:8-14 

The enemy prowls,

roaring, seeking

someone edible

and vulnerable, so 

be careful and

watchful. Resist

him; stand firm,

you are not alone

in your suffering,

a suffering that is

shared. You will

be delivered, 

called home,

restored, confirmed,

strengthened, and

established. Stand

firm, and always

greet one another

in love.

 

Photograph by Kelly Sikkema via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

When Puppies Replace People – Ben Hick at Proclaim & Defend.

 

“The Windhover,” poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The First Task of the Church – Stanley Hauerwas at Plough.

 

The Etiquette of Speech – O. Alan Noble at You Are Not Your Own Substack.

 

Saturday Good Reads - March 15, 2025

Poet (and professor) Benjamin Myers has a two-fer this week. Rabbit Room Poetry published his poem “The Reverend on Natural Theology,” taken from one of favorite contemporary collections, Black Sunday. Myers was also interviewed on “Intermingling Matter & Emotion in Art” at The Artistic Vision podcast.  

Norwegian write Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920. Known for his innovation literary style, he published 23 novels, a poetry collection, essays, short stories, plays, and even a travelogue. He was also a Nazi, becoming a strong supporter of Hitler and the puppet Quisling government in Norway during the German occupation. At The Critic Magazine, Richard Holledge takes a look at this “Novelist, Nobel laureate, and Nazi.”

 

In the category of You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, we have two outstanding contributions today. The first comes from the BBC, which reported (with aerial photos) on new road construction cutting a swath of destruction in the Amazon rainforest, with the road being built for the November Climate Conference. Then there’s a new group that’s been formed to help lead the anti-Trump resistance. It’s called Families Over Billionaires, and it’s being funded by Bill Gates, George Soros, and other billionaires. 

 

More Good Reads

 

American Stuff

 

Love of a Nation – N.S. Lyons at The Upheaval. 

 

Dismantling USAID – Kim Strassel at The Wall Street Journal.

 

Writing and Literature

 

“A Conflicted, Imperfect Love.” Jesmyn Ward on William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying – Literary Hub.

 

The Everyday Madness of Shirley Jackson – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

Dostoevsky and Euthanasia – Vika Pechersky at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Life and Culture

 

Romania has exposed anti-democratic tendencies in Europe – Titus Techera at The Critic Magazine.

 

Flashes of Wickedness: Auschwitz at 80 – Ronan Thomas at Real Clear History.

 

Poetry

 

“Today, I Am,” poem by John Clare – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Raspberry Picking – Tyler Rogness at Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

Some observations on Poetry (from a survey for Poetry Magazine) – J.C. Scharl at Word Hoard.

 

National Poetry Month Is in the Wat + Prompt – Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

Faith

 

Smuggling the gospel? Part 1 – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

Following Your Heart is a Bad Idea – Bill Grandi at Living in the Shadow.

 

The Long, Faithful Obedience of William Wilberforce – John Stonestreet and Glenn Sunshine at Breakpoint / Colson Center.

 

British Stuff

 

In This English Village, Asylum Seekers Outnumber the Locals – Dominic Green at The Free Press.

 

Christ Our Wisdom – Sovereign Grace

 Painting: Old man reading a book, only on canvas (early 18^th century), Lombard School.

Mutual humility

After I Peter 5:5-7 

We are to be humble 

toward each other.

It’s not about birth,

class, position, wealth, 

or anything else we

measure ourselves

and each other by.

In the age of me,

the age of self,

the age of ego,

it’s countercultural

to be humble

toward each other.

If the measuring

stick is Christ,

we have no choice

but to be humble

toward each other.

 

“The more we experience the gap between reality and what we know to be true, the more we grow closer to God. The more we see the gap between man and God, the more we reach for God.” – Pastor Clay Smith, August. 18, 2024.

 

Photograph by Elianna Gill via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

The mower and the nun – poem by Cameron Brooks at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin). 

 

Something Is Wrong: The Nine Contradictions of our Technological Age – Andrew Noble at Something Is Noble. 

 

The Temptation of Christ in Illuminated Manuscripts – Amelia McKee at Art for the Liturgical Year.

 

For God So Loved This Anxious Generation – Sarah Eekhof Zylstra at The Gospel Coalition.

 

"The Sadbook Collections 2" by Sara Barkat

I’ve been following Sadbook on Substack by Sara Barkat for quite a while now. At first, I thought the character might be intended for a younger generation. And Sadbook certainly has that appeal – a kind of updated Charlie Brown. (I don’t want to imply that Sadbook is a male; gender isn’t specified and really doesn’t matter.) And it can be a little odd or slightly offbeat, causing you to turn your head and say “What?”  

But then I read Barkat’s The Sadbook Collections 2, essentially all of the Sadbook cartoons from 2024 (the first volume covers 2023). And it was then that it hit me: Sadbook is a poet. 

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

Some Thursday Readings

 

“Upon my Son Samuel His Going for England,” poem by Anne Bradstreet – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

A Review of Homage to Soren Kierkegaard, edited by Dana Gioia and Mary Grace Mangano – Matthew King at New Verse Review.

 

Questions that arise from a poem – Padraig O Tuama at Poetry Unbound.

 

An Appreciation of Ted Kooser – Judith Harris at Literary Matters.

 

Moonwalk – poem by Jerry Barrett at Gerald the Writer.

Some Wednesday Readings - March 12, 2025

Britain: Multiculturalism contra justice – Sam Bidwell at The Critic Magazine. 

Shrouded Veterans: Destitute Cavalryman Plagiarizes Mark Twain – Frank Jastrzembski at Emerging Civil War.

 

Hermitess and Green Man – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Time Keeps on Slippin’ – Joe Duke at Front Porch Republic.

 

What’s a Trade War and How Did We End Up in One? – Tim Challies.

 

We’re All George Smiley Now – Ana Siljak at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

After Romanian Election Mess, The West’s Foundation is Crumbling – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

25 years on: how Somerset House became a center for contemporary art – Martin Bailey at The Art Newspaper.

 

March 11: The Telegram That Won the War – Lincoln Demotes McClellan – Jason Clark at This Is the Day. 

 

Photograph: Somerset House in London by Robert Bye via Unsplash. Used with permission.