Poetry and About Poetry

The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston My rating: 5 of 5 stars It is wonderful to ready good writing that celebrates the natural world without romanticizing it. Beston describes the ocean and its waves with a clarity of understanding and expression I have seldom read. His connection with the natural world and especially with birds reveals the wonders there while neither refusing to see the violence inherent nor impose a human ethic on that living way. View all my reviews

The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston My rating: 5 of 5 stars It is wonderful to ready good writing that celebrates the natural world without romanticizing it. Beston describes the ocean and its waves with a clarity of understanding and expression I have seldom read. His connection with the natural world and especially with birds reveals the wonders there while neither refusing to see the violence inherent nor impose a human ethic on that living way. View all my reviews

A video clip from my reading of “Fatherhood” at The Griffin is now available online. From my website here: http://www.davidanthonysam.com/audio-video-photo/ Or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAyyGmE_Ymo

A video clip from my reading of "Fatherhood" at The Griffin is now available online. From my website here: http://www.davidanthonysam.com/audio-video-photo/ Or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAyyGmE_Ymo

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography by Justin Kaplan My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a fascinating biography of the two characters invented by their author: Samuel Clemens & Mark Twain—and the Jekyll and Hyde relationship between the two. Clemens/Twain was a great humorist and at his best in some of his writings or onstage, something Hal Holbrook seems to capture well. But he was a bitter and angry man, too. If you want to read behind the personae created by Twain, this is a good and deep exploration. View all my reviews

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography by Justin Kaplan My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a fascinating biography of the two characters invented by their author: Samuel Clemens & Mark Twain---and the Jekyll and Hyde relationship between the two. Clemens/Twain was a great humorist and at his best in some of his writings or onstage, something Hal Holbrook seems to capture well. But he was a bitter and angry man, too. If you want to read behind the personae created by Twain, this is a good and deep exploration. View all my reviews

A selection from my book is available for free download. http://ow.ly/zxWYn

A selection from my book is available for free download. http://ow.ly/zxWYn

Another great one gone, but her work lives on. She never took the easy path, whether as a conscience for her country or indeed the world, or in her writing. When the critics expected her to continue from her early success, she started writing scifi. She will be missed.  Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90 T he Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 – Bibliography

Another great one gone, but her work lives on. She never took the easy path, whether as a conscience for her country or indeed the world, or in her writing. When the critics expected her to continue from her early success, she started writing scifi. She will be missed.  Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90 T he Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 - Bibliography

Ay: Poems by Joan Houlihan My rating: 4 of 5 stars A fine experiment in primitivist language. Houlihan here uses a diction entirely from the Anglo-Saxon to suggest the mind of a human on the verge of or just passed into language. The basic plot is a youth who leaves the clan, injured physically and by the separation, who reunites with his literal or tribal brother, and who is baptized in the end with a rain of consciousness and perhaps forgiveness. The poetry is brilliant with clarity in observation of nature. I got used to the almost precious use of “Ay” as a name of “I.” However, the use of “hims” and “thems” as possessives seemed unnecessary and distracting. A quibble. Houlihan writes with a wonderfully musical ear. It is pleasing in a time of poetry that is prosaic to the point of dullness to hear language rise from the page. It is a brave experiment, and it largely works. View all my reviews

Ay: Poems by Joan Houlihan My rating: 4 of 5 stars A fine experiment in primitivist language. Houlihan here uses a diction entirely from the Anglo-Saxon to suggest the mind of a human on the verge of or just passed into language. The basic plot is a youth who leaves the clan, injured physically and by the separation, who reunites with his literal or tribal brother, and who is baptized in the end with a rain of consciousness and perhaps forgiveness. The poetry is brilliant with clarity in observation of nature. I got used to the almost precious use of "Ay" as a name of "I." However, the use of "hims" and "thems" as possessives seemed unnecessary and distracting. A quibble. Houlihan writes with a wonderfully musical ear. It is pleasing in a time of poetry that is prosaic to the point of dullness to hear language rise from the page. It is a brave experiment, and it largely works. View all my reviews

I have long admired the writings of Wendell Berry. But I think he is underrated as a poet: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/119/2#!/20595389

I have long admired the writings of Wendell Berry. But I think he is underrated as a poet: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/119/2#!/20595389

Rilke’s advice is something I must go back to regularly, even though I am no long the “young poet” I was in 1968 when I first met his boo: “   You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work. Now (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out i...

Rilke's advice is something I must go back to regularly, even though I am no long the "young poet" I was in 1968 when I first met his book: "   You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work. Now (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you - no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if...

Winston’s War by Michael Dobbs My rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting and entertaining re-imagining of events leading up to Churchill’s becoming Prime Minister, this novel leans towards the cynical except in its portrayal of Churchill himself. View all my reviews

Winston's War by Michael Dobbs My rating: 4 of 5 stars An interesting and entertaining re-imagining of events leading up to Churchill's becoming Prime Minister, this novel leans towards the cynical except in its portrayal of Churchill himself. View all my reviews

For those who use  Goodreads , I am answering questions about “ Memories in Clay, Dreams of Wolves ” on my Author’s page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/8177695.David_Anthony_Sam/questions

For those who use  Goodreads , I am answering questions about " Memories in Clay, Dreams of Wolves " on my Author's page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/8177695.David_Anthony_Sam/questions

This Morning, July 7, I was interviewed on TownTalk with Ted Schubel on 1230 AM. I talked with him about writing poetry, my new book, Memories in Clay, Dreams of Wolves, and read three poems. Listen to my interview here:  https://soundcloud.com/user431914325/memories-in-clay-dreams-of-wolves

This Morning, July 7, I was interviewed on TownTalk with Ted Schubel on 1230 AM. I talked with him about writing poetry, my new book, Memories in Clay, Dreams of Wolves, and read three poems. Listen to my interview here:  https://soundcloud.com/user431914325/memories-in-clay-dreams-of-wolves

Many thanks to those who have reviewed my book on Amazon .

Many thanks to those who have reviewed my book on Amazon .

Hsin Hsin Ming, the Book of Nothing: Discourses on the Faith Mind of Sosan by Osho My rating: 4 of 5 stars Some memorable quotations: “Attain to that silence again, that’s all – again be a child. The whole thing comes to this, you can conclude it. All the Buddhas come to this conclusion: that you have to become a part of nature again.” “But look – they are concerned with small things because life consists of small things. Great problems are only in the mind, not in life.” “Where are the boundaries? The tree moves in you, the sun moves in the tree, the ocean moves into the tree, you move in the child and this goes on…” “Everything is moving. The breath that is within you will be in me a little later. And the breath is life, so your life and my life cannot be different, because the same breath you breathe I breathe.” “Language is time, divided into the same categories as time. And life is beyond. Life if not past.” “...

Hsin Hsin Ming, the Book of Nothing: Discourses on the Faith Mind of Sosan by Osho My rating: 4 of 5 stars Some memorable quotations: "Attain to that silence again, that’s all – again be a child. The whole thing comes to this, you can conclude it. All the Buddhas come to this conclusion: that you have to become a part of nature again." "But look – they are concerned with small things because life consists of small things. Great problems are only in the mind, not in life." "Where are the boundaries? The tree moves in you, the sun moves in the tree, the ocean moves into the tree, you move in the child and this goes on..." "Everything is moving. The breath that is within you will be in me a little later. And the breath is life, so your life and my life cannot be different, because the same breath you breathe I breathe." "Language is time, divided into the same categories as time. And life is beyond. Life if not past." "You cannot b...

Looking forward to another poetry reading/book signing July 11 in Culpeper at the Raven’s Nest 7:30pm http:// ravensnestcoffeehouse.com/

Looking forward to another poetry reading/book signing July 11 in Culpeper at the Raven's Nest 7:30pm http:// ravensnestcoffeehouse.com/