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A Gathering of Poetry | August 2026

August 20, 2026August 11, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

This month’s poetry selection is from the popular 20th century American poet, Anne Sexton, as she captures the lazy days of late summer.

blue and white flowered towel hanging on a wire with a rolling pin and a pie plate in the lower right corner

I Remember by Anne Sexton

By the first of August
the invisible beetles began
to snore and the grass was
as tough as hemp and was
no color – no more than
the sand was a color and
we had worn our bare feet
bare since the twentieth
of June and there were times
we forgot to wind up your 
alarm clock and some nights
we took our gin warm and neat
from old jelly glasses while
the sun blew out of sight
like a red picture hat and
one day I tied my hair back
with a ribbon and you said
that I looked almost like 
a puritan lady and what
I remember best is that
the door to your room was
the door to mine.

Graphic credit: Geometry. Jar Jar Tea Towel

And with appreciation to Third Thursday bloggers: Kat at As Kat Knits, Bonnie at Highly Reasonable, and Kym at Dancing at the Edge

Reading

Book Club: The Correspondent

August 18, 2026August 18, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

The Correspondent was the latest title discussed by my online book club. It came highly recommended by well-read friends, but I admit I wondered how a story could be structured strictly though letters and emails. I need not have worried as this debut novel evolved naturally with well-defined characters and a narrative that eventually sucked me in.

At the onset of the book, I admit I was not fond of Sylvia Van Antwerp’s opinionated personality. I wanted more refinement and finesse in her correspondence rather than blatant opinion. Each letter whether to a friend or family member, the President, or a blockbuster movie director conveyed the precision of a prosecutor’s closing statement. While many of book’s letters were written by Sylvia, we are also privy to a portion of the responses. It is through these dialogues that we join her exploration of family history, court decisions with long-reaching consequences, and new late-in-life friendships, all moving toward a level of self-awareness and acceptance. A recognition of her own frailties and a new tenderness for others.

Having recently joined The Sunday Letter Project with the intent of putting pen to paper rather than dashing off an ephemeral email or text, I was intrigued by the decades of Sylvia’s letter writing passion. Her world of written correspondence is the stuff of future Ken Burns documentaries whereas everyday text messages with a smattering of emojis will be lost forever.

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | June 2026

June 18, 2026June 19, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

pride rainbow colors roughly painted on canvas

Just in time for Pride month and perfect for a Third Thursday Gathering of Poetry, poet Danielle Coffyn shares a delightful short verse encouraging tolerance, acceptance and, yes, pride.

Why Pride?
Because somewhere
a child is a heron
in a sea of salmon
who encourage them
to convert wings 
into fins.

Fish cannot teach
a bird to take flight.
So every June we flock 
to the heavens
to remind them the sky
was never a sin.

Credits:
Poem: Why Pride © Danielle Coffyn
Graphic:  pexel - Steve A Johnson
Third Thursday blog posters: Kat at As Kat Knits, Bonnie at Highly Reasonable, and Kym at Dancing at the Edge

Reading

NLW 2026

April 19, 2026April 8, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

colorful graphic with people walking to the library

National Library Week – an annual event since 1958 when librarians, trustees, library users, and even politicians celebrate the varied roles libraries play in individual lives and communities. As a lover of libraries, I wonder why just one week, only seven days. Why not an entire month dedicated to acknowledging libraries spark creativity, nurture young minds with storytimes, serve as community centers, and provide free access to books, media, and digital resources? Whether a day or seven or more, there is JOY to be found at the library.

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | April 2026

April 16, 2026April 9, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson in 1847 in a maroon velvet case and gold mat; photo from Amherst College Archives & Special Collections

While libraries certainly offer far more than books – from pre-school storytimes to adult literacy classes, from online job searches to homework help – the selection of fiction and non-fiction titles arranged precisely shelf after shelf is still a primary function. In honor of National Library Week (just days away) here are words by Emily Dickinson, one of America’s best-known poets, and her thoughts about books. Happy to join Bonnie, Kat, Kym, and others for this third Thursday, Gathering of Poetry.

There is no Frigate like a Book by Emily Dickinson

There is not Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –

Bibliographic credit: The Poems of Emily Dickinson Edited by R. W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)

Photographic credit: Daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson in 1847 courtesy of Amherst College Archives & Special Collections

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A Gathering of Poetry | February 2026

February 19, 2026February 19, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

night sky with planetary notations by NASA

In the last weeks of February, those with a cloudless night and an observant eye (possibly aided by a telescope) can experience a “planetary parade.” A six-planet alignment will be visible in the early evening.

See what you can discover with NASA’s directional assistance: “In mid-February, Saturn will drop to the horizon as Venus and Mercury climb, meeting in the west to southwest sky. Jupiter will be high in the sky. Uranus will be found in the southern sky and Neptune will be found near Saturn.”

In honor of this celestial phenomenon, here is a poem by Sara Teasdale for this month’s Gathering of Poetry.

February Twilight 

I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature
That saw what I could see—
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me.

Graphic credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Bibliographic credit: In the public domain, this poem was first published in Poetry Magazine, 1924

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | January 2026

January 15, 2026 annbh356Leave a comment

white horse with dots and stripes ridden by a princess and a cat with bluebirds in a pink sky

I need a bit of whimsy in these troubling days. As I join Bonny, Kat, and Kym in this new year for the first Gathering of Poetry, I offer the irreverent verse of Richard Brautigan. Although his poem initially reads like a fairytale there is no happy-ever-after ending – except for the dragon. Enjoy!

THE HORSE THAT HAD A FLAT TIRE

Once upon a valley
there came down
from some goldenblue mountains
a handsome young prince
who was riding
a dawncolored horse
named Lordsburg.

     I love you
     You're my breathing castle
     Gentle so gentle
     We'll live forever

In the valley 
there was a beautiful maiden
whom the prince
drifted into love with
like a New Mexico made from
apple thunder and long
glass beds.

     I love you
     You're my breathing castle
     Gentle so gentle
     We'll live forever

The prince enchanted
the maiden 
and they rode off
on the dawncolored horse
named Lordsburg
toward the goldenblue mountains.

     I love you
     You're my breathing castle
     Gentle so gentle
     We'll live forever

They would have lived
happily ever after
if the horse hadn't had
a flat tire
in front of a dragon's
house.

Bibliographic note and artistic credit:

Reading

For Renee Nicole Good

January 12, 2026 annbh3561 Comment

When the incomprehensible occurs (again) on a Minneapolis street, maybe the only solace can be found in poetry. The creative genius of Amanda Gorman provides gentle salve for my bruised soul.

For Renee Nicole Good 
Killed by I.C.E. on January 7, 2026
 
by Amanda Gorman 

They say she is no more, 
That there her absence roars, 
Blood-blown like a rose. 
Iced wheels flinched & froze. 
Now, bare riot of candles, 
Dark fury of flowers, 
Pure howling of hymns. 

If for us she arose, 
Somewhere, in the pitched deep of our grief, 
Crouches our power, 
The howl where we begin, 
Straining upon the edge of the crooked crater 
Of the worst of what we’ve been. 

Change is only possible, 
& all the greater, 
When the labour 
& bitter anger of our neighbors 
Is moved by the love  
& better angels of our nature. 

What they call death & void, 
We know is breath & voice;  
In the end, gorgeously,  
Endures our enormity.  

You could believe departed to be the dawn 
When the blank night has so long stood. 
But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone, 
When they forever are so fiercely Good.

Reading · Spirituality

A New Year Reflection on Hope

January 1, 2026January 16, 2026 annbh3561 Comment

If asked to summarize my feelings about the year just ending, I would admit 2025 did not inspire confidence even as our personal lives were less chaotic and pessimistic than most. However, just hours into this new year I am struck by the number of references I am finding on the theme of hope. Here are three –

This morning, I discovered an upbeat article in a most unusual source, The New York Times, where author Lauren Jackson urges the reader to move from cynicism to hope. She cites research conducted by the Hope Research Center at the University of Oklahoma which specifies that hope is “one of the strongest indicators of well-being. It helps improve the immune system and aids in the recovery from illness.” Chan Hellman, Director of the Center, goes on to say, “while optimism is the belief that the future will be better, hope is the belief that we have the power to make it so.”

Today’s musical earworm is a favorite winter hymn, Come Sing a Song with Me, included in the Unitarian Universalist hymnal with words and music by Carolyn McDade, ©1976. And, when we join in song, the chorus predicts:

And I’ll bring you hope when hope is hard to find, and I’ll bring a song of love and rose in the wintertime.

And to conclude my triad on hope, I will give a nod to fellow bloggers, Bonny, Kat, and Kym who regularly offer poetic inspiration in A Gathering of Poetry every third Thursday of the month. While I know it is only the first and not the third, it is a Thursday, so I am sharing an original composition by Jane N., age 9. As we move into 2026, may we skeptical adults take inspiration from the children in our midst.

Hope

Hope winds its way
Through the branches of the bare trees 
Like silk ribbon.
 
It snakes through the villages
 And into the homes of the people. 
It settles into their hearts 
Lighting the way.
 
Hope.

I am enjoying my holiday and starting this new month with a cup of Chocolat Vitale made from Belgium and Swiss chocolate and curled up with my copy of Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver ©2017.

Happy New Year and may your days be healthy and hopeful.

Baking · Reading

A – Apple Pie

October 29, 2025 annbh356Leave a comment

1886 illustration of A Apple with children dancing around an apple pie

apple pie on wooden pie rest sitting on gray granite counter

For many years, during the children’s librarian portion of my career, I collected alphabet books. This A to Z selection of titles included an eclectic mix ranging from Anno’s Alphabet: An Adventure in Imagination by Anno Mitsumasa ©1988 to Antler, Bear, Canoe: A Northwoods Alphabet, written and illustrated by Betsy Bowen ©2002. These picture books, while certainly appropriate learning tools for children, could also be appreciated by the adult reader due to the intricacies found on each page. Interestingly, my collection did not include the popular 19th century edition by Kate Greenway but as the first dessert baked at Solstice Place was an apple pie, I will give a nod to her 1886 original wood engraving A – Apple Pie.