ELIZABETH T. GRAY, JR ~

 

At Goudberg Copse

Mother, send down blessings on this haunted place

where we tripped and fell over barbed

wire into trenches over stumps, rose

and tripped again the whole night through,

where we stumbled on terrible shapes, not flesh and blood forms

but made of a swarm of noxious black darkness.

We buried more than the strength

of the regiment on these terrible ridges.

Please hold us with unbiased compassion.

Hold with compassion the gods

and demons gathered here.  Please stay here

and grant your blessings.

_______________

Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr.

Salient

New Directions 2020

Over several decades, Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., has traced the contours and history of the Ypres Salient, diving deep into the British military archives and walking the haunted battlefield with survey maps in hand. Out of this physical and textural material, through a process of collage and an unexpectedly powerful convergence with a 12th c. Tibetan visualization ritual, Gray has composed a spare, fascinating, lyrical explanation of what she calls "The Missing," in shell-hole and curved trench, by way of magical amulets and the passage through obstacles. (New Directions)

RAY STINNETT TONIGHT ~

 

© 2013 Light in the Attic

BARBARA HAMBY ~

 

Ode on the Wildest Word

No, sir, I am not your baby, not your twenty-dollar

            shot of tequila, not your excise tax on petroleum

jelly, your high-risk dirigible in the bomb-alicious

            sky filled with lies, the radio highs that last

three minutes tops, the shuck and jive of yes ma'am,

            doublethink spam, drink-the-Kool-Aid

Marxist sham, the wham up-against-the-wall

            cattle call of the true believers, left and right,

the slight lisp on the edge of doom. O no, Daddy-o,

            I cannot swim out to your island of swoon,

or the two-bit room in the Alligator Motel, that hell,

            with its sharp teeth and open jaws, the seesaw

back and forth between high noon and doom,

            that tune. No, baby, I'm sitting here all alone,

grown woman, looking back on all the tricks, the love

            sick delirium that blasts off to the moon

and then dissolves into a rule book and curdled milk,

            the silk cave of raven wings, the slinky

rinky-dink dance with death, the breathless sigh. O my,

            I'm saying no to the bye-bye lullaby,

half-hearted whisky-and-rye apocalypse afternoon,

            the harpoon-in-my-gut regret that say yes

no everything, sings soprano in the church choir, mucks

            in the mire outside the front door, the storm gutter

matter of cant, the torn dress and sweaty hankering

            to do good, so here I am in a rococo imbroglio

of Hamlet and moonshine, the backwoods banter

             that begets shame, the no-name oblivion

of staying on the bus as it travels through the war zone

            and lets you off at what was once home.

______________________________

Barbara Hamby

BURN

UPittsburgh Press, 2025

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE TONIGHT ~

 

Paul Simon "Graceland" 1986

℗ 2024 New West Records, LLC Released on: 2024-08-09 Main Artist: Justin Townes Earle Producer: Kim Buie Producer: Adam Bednarik Composer: Justin Townes Earle Music Publisher: Music (BMI) All Rights Administered By BMG Rights Management (US) LLC

WENDELL BERRY'S: MARCE CATLETT ~

 

R E A D   M E

      Counterpoint 2025

THE GREAT WOODY GUTHRIE ~

 

A short song from one of Woody's radio broadcasts. (1940's?) Featured in this performance are: *Woody of course-guitar and voc. *the great SONNY TERRY on harmonica, "whooops" and voc. other musicians most likely featured in this performance: *Pete Seeger - banjo *Cisco Houston - guitar voc. (pictured with Woody at :25)

O FREEDOM (BILLY BRAGG) ~

 

℗ 2008 Billy Bragg Released on: 2008-03-03 Main Artist: Billy Bragg Music Publisher: Cooking Vinyl Limited Composer: Billy Bragg

BILL EVANS ALL DAY ~

 

       Orrin Keepnews

          NYC, June 25, 1961

SOUL OF A NATION ~

 

Soul of a Nation: Afro-Centric Visions in the Age of Black Power - Underground Jazz, Street Funk & the Roots of Rap 1968-79

COWBOY JACK CLEMENT'S HOME MOVIES ~

 

A Documentary about Nashville's Maverick songwriter/producer, 'Cowboy' Jack Clement

DAMIEN RICE ~

 

   14th Floor Records

 Feb. 1, 2002

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ~

 from Song of Hiawatha

And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets,

The Wabenos, the Magicians,

And the Medicine-men, the Medas,

Painted upon bark and deer-skin

Figures for the songs they chanted,

For each song a separate symbol,

Figures mystical and awful,

Figures strange and brightly colored;

And each figure had its meaning,

Each some magic song suggested.

_______________________

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

NEW! POSTCARD POEMS ~

L O N G H O U S E    P O S T CA R D    P O E M S

S P R I N G    2  0 2 6

Love Thy Poet Forever Series

________________

   Enjoy ~

May be purchased individually

or as a set

~ Inquire

     longhousepoetry@gmail.com

 

PATTI SMITH AND THE PEOPLE ~

 

       March 23, 2026

R.L. BURNSIDE TONIGHT ~

 

    1978

MALICK SIDIBE ~

 

R E A D   M E

     Foundation Cartier

     2017

AUGIE MEYERS ~

 

A U G I E   M E Y E R S

          John Anderson/The Austin Chronicle, via Getty Images

M O R E

DEBORAH DIGGES ~

    

    So Light You Were

I Would Have Carried You

So light you were

I would have carried you,

hacked from the ice

a bridge,

you in my arms,

from February into April.

And crossed

above the snow

banked narrowing

the streets, this winter's

tired citizens, the erlking

and his foundling crossing.

Light as you were

I would have carried you

from the room

of your death back

to our room,

climbed back,

crawled up the stairs

to our bed.

From February into

April, hid in your arms

in the woods

frantic please.

Light as we were.

And could be carried out

on a float of last year's

leaves

and bracken thaw

rinsing the tide pools.

So light you were.

I would have carried you

from February

into April.

___________________________

Deborah Digges

Trapeze

Knopf, 2004

PRINCE TONIGHT ~

 

Parade - Music from the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon ℗ 1986 Warner Records Inc.

ROBERT M. WEST ~

 

Heartbeat

Hold me

too

close to

tell

whose is

whose.

Echo

A lone

voice

in the

right

empty space

makes

its own

best

company.

Exposure

What you're

eager to

believe may

say more

about you

than you'd

be eager

to admit.

Ulysses

Even frailer,

bound for failure

die at sea or home

I roam.

________________________________

Robert M. West

A Clear Eye

Broadstone Books, 2026

HELL (Sleater-Kinney) TONIGHT ~

 

   2024

RILKE'S GARDEN ~

 

R E A D   M E

        Seagull Books, 2025

REBECCA SOLNIT'S ROAD ~

 

R E A D   M E

        Haymarket 2025

ZANZIBARA TONIGHT ~

 

Musiciens: Matano Juma ; Yasseen Mohamed ; Zuhura Swaleh ; Ali Mkali ; Zein l’Abdin ; Maulidi Juma ; Zuhura & Zein Musical Part ; Ahmed bin Brek 

Production exécutive / éditeur / transferts / restauration / mastering : Werner Graebner

Enregistrements : Zanzibar (2004) ; Dubaï (2005)

Prise de son : Werner Graebner

TIM O'BRIEN (VIETNAM WAR) ~

 

Writer and veteran Tim O'Brien reflects on the moral weight of the Vietnam War’s most infamous atrocity. Official website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexpe... | #AmericanExperiencePBS In this interview from the American Experience archives, novelist and Vietnam War veteran Tim O'Brien, author of "The Things They Carried," reflects on the legacy of the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians. O’Brien discusses how the massacre shaped Americans’ understanding of the war, the moral and psychological toll on the soldiers involved, and the challenges of confronting painful truths about the past. Drawing on his experience as both a veteran and a writer, O’Brien explores how memory, storytelling, and accountability shape the way societies remember war. His reflections illuminate the broader context of the conflict and the lasting impact of My Lai on American public life. O’Brien spoke to American Experience on November 20, 2009. This interview was conducted for our 2015 documentary MY LAI and is being published as part of our series spotlighting remarkable archival conversations with historians, journalists, eyewitnesses, and other primary sources whose insights deepen our understanding of the past. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

JEAN FOLLAIN ~

Day on Fire

The door shined in fiery daylight

but the braids of the women there

held still

one of them leaned over the waters on the cauldron

and on a piece of porcelain

a painted bird had worn itself out with singing.

The messenger was seen to come in

with a letter and a golden loaf in his hands

he spoke

then it was dead silence

and the whole garden gave up its scent.

Landscape with Two Laborers

The countyside was calm

a girl was washing her unblemished leg

and the hours

etched themselves into the cloth they faded

attacking the damask flowers.

The pages of a schoolbook

had been carried off by the wind

up above the eglantines

and down the length of the path

to ditches filled with clever beasts

to embankments covered in those herbs

favored for soothing teas

two laborers took their time

telling each other

the secrets of working with wood.

The Notice

The child pushing along the ring of a barrel

as his makeshift hoop

runs alone and shouts

but to the one who has just spelled out

beneath the N and the eagle of Empire

the draft notice

the old man says simply

in the blazing sun

while drinking a foamy pear cider:

"the next century will be worse"

though lovers go by singing.

Edge of the Hearth

The outbuildings with no real use

are left to the rains

a peasant woman

has an edge of the black hearth

for a seat

the evening turns

in swirls of her breath

the wind in the hollow tree

why beings and things

she thinks

and not nothing

_______________________________

Jean Follain

Earthly

The Song Cave 2025

translated by Andrew Seguin

WOODEN SHJIPS "BACK TO LAND" ~

 

    2013

A CHANCE MEETING ~

 

R E A D   M E

2004

2024, reissued

AEDNAN ~

 

R E A D   M E

   Knopf 2024

RONALD BAATZ ~

 

Their ashes

where my father used to kneel

planting

where my mother used to bend

picking

As she puts

water on for tea

from my own pile

of bones and ashes

I reassess hers

In a crowded mountain bus

the endlessly monotonous

talk about Buddhist scriptures

when all I want to listen to

are the wheels on the road

The degrees to which

the closed fairgrounds

brings in even more

spellbinding beauty

to the sunset

In early spring mist

my lover floats across fields

from one dream

of sweet grass

to another

Our old

peacefully

decaying bodies

talking to children

selling lemonade

For anyone who sings

by a small window

in a small room

in the depths of

dying light

In the bedroom

sweeping up popcorn

from the night before

I see the hopeful eyes

of birds in the window

_____________________________

Ronald Baatz

One Oblivious Orange Fish

Black Fig Press, 2026