Friday, 28 February 2014

Finding Poetry Online: The Writer's Almanac








My dad listened to Paul Harvey's News and Comment at 7:35 every weekday morning.  This was the time I was to be dressed and ready for school.  I would then sit down at the table to my father's infamous runny eggs and listen for the "rest of the story."  Paul Harvey's voice is the smell of wood heat, the comfort of a simple home, and even the nauseating taste of a fluoride pill, a morning ritual for any farm family living on well water.  

My children's Paul Harvey is Garrison Keillor.  Every weekday noon we listen to the Writer's Almanac.  Keillor's voice--it whistles--is his own.  His podcast is about five minutes long.  The theme is "this day in history" mostly from a literary perspective.  At the end of every program is a poem.  What jewels!  They are cupid's arrows impelling me into love affairs with poets I would have never known had it not been for an introduction by Keillor.   It's not just the poems, the entire program is something that sustains and delights as much our noonday meal.   

From today's podcast a quote from essayist Michel de Montaigne, born on this date in 1533: "The highest of wisdom is continual cheerfulness: such a state, like the region above the moon, is always clear and serene."

Keillor's signoff is mine for today:

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.  




If you are new to poetry, this book will provide an affable beginning:



2 comments:

  1. Paul Harvey was a favorite of my family, too. I still like to pull up favorite quotes from him on the internet.
    For Christmas, Tiffany gave Gene the book, "The Farmer in All of Us". This book is based on Paul Harvey's story, "So, God Made A Farmer". I love looking through this book compiled of many pictures of farmers.
    *Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
    :) Vickie R

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  2. Vickie, I was sharing with Isaiah a little about Paul Harvey and decided to play for him "So God Made a Farmer." It's pretty great isn't it?

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