Consider Orpheus in Joy

This morning, I return to the pages of Front Porch Republic with a new essay on our "Joyless Moderns."  Take a tour through Descartes and Hobbes, but also Herbert and Donne, to consider what it is we have been taught by the modern "school of disenchantment."  But don't enroll yourself.

When you are ready, consider the depths of the mystery of this world given to delight our imaginations, by reading my latest poem in America magazine, "James's Book."  When I give public readings, the one poem I can be reasonably sure the audience will know is my "Prayer for Livia Grace."  Here is the complementary poem, written for her younger brother. Joined with "On a Box of Rainbow Sprinkles," written for her baby brother, Thomas, this poem brings me very close to having published one for each of the children.  Cecilia will have to wait, accepting for the moment the one line dedication to The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking.

Click the chair to read "Joyless Moderns" and the lyre to read "James's Book." Click the book cover to read another recent essay of mine on joy.  And, finally, if you are new to my work and like what you see, have a look at the BOOKS page of this site, by clicking on Some Permanent Things​.

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