Tuesday Poem – “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”, by John Donne

As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say “The breath goes now,” and some say, “No” So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; ’Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. Movement of …

Strange Companions

I'm teaching Sharon Olds tomorrow at Polytech, so this week I've been re-immersing myself in her work. I'd forgotten how good it is. You remember the sex, the violence, the big-ticket melodrama of her relationship with her father. But I'd forgotten how much she writes of sheer physical joy – how good it feels to …