OBSCURE POETS-PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

 

Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872

Poet, short story writer, and novelist

Was a classmate of Orville Wright

"We Wear The Mask" his most famous poem

Died of tuberculosis in 1906

We Wear the Mask

BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

       We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

       We wear the mask!

NEW WORDS

 A couple of words I learned today.

SITOOTERIE-  A small patio or sheltered area outside a house, suitable for sitting in for relaxation or socializing.

ZETETIC- Proceeding by inquiry

8TH STREET BOOKSHOP

 

The bookstore was located on the corner of West 8th Street and McDougal Place. It was a gathering place for many artists of the day. Allen, Ginsberg, Marianne Moore, A. W. Auden, and E.E. Cummings to mention a few.

I started hanging out in Greenwich Village in 1968.  The Village was also a social scene. However I don't remember this place. I wish that I had. Eighth Street Bookshop closed for good in 1979.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Writing really evokes empathy in a way very few things can do.

~Erin Gruwell

FAMOUS WRITERS WHO WERE BORN IN JUNE

Gwendolyn Brooks

Octavia E. Butler

Lucille Clifton

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Anne Frank

Ken Follett

Allen Ginsberg

Nikki Giovanni

Thomas Hardy

Federico Garcia Lorca

Larry McMurtry

Frank O' Hara

Joyce Carol Oates

George Orwell

Salman Rushdie

Dorothy L. Sayers

W.B. Yeats

HAPPY PRIDE!

 June is pride month.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Whatever comes to your mind, write about it. It may be a seed that will germinate into a story.

HONOR OUR VETERANS

 

WORDS OF WISDOM

I like the process of pencil and paper as opposed to a machine. I think the writing is better when its done in handwriting. 

~Nelson DeMille

OUTLINES

I'm still writing a lot of outlines. Don't know how many I've written. The theme is people at rock bottom. Rock bottom is different for everybody. It can be physical, mental, spiritual, or a combination of all three. 

FAVORITE AUTHORS AND POETS

Edgar Allan Poe

Langston Hughes

Sylvia Plath

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Herman Melville

Jack Kerouac

Mary Oliver

WORDS OF WISDOM

 If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it.

~Tennessee Williams, Dramatist (1911-1983)

FAMOUS WRITERS FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

David Aldridge

Daniel Epstein

Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Diane Houston

Kathleen Norris

Norah O'Donnell

Richard Peabody

Henry Rollins

Douglas Wallop (1920-1985)

HONORING ALL MOMS

 

OBSCURE POET-THE ARCHPOET

THE ARCHPOET   (1130-1165) 

Anonymous 12th century poet

Born of nobility. Had a classical education.

Real identity has never been found

Author of ten medieval Latin poems 

Wrote Goliardic and satirical Latin poetry

"HIS CONFESSIONS" his most notable work

First Two Stanzas of "His Confessions."     (has 17 Stanzas)

Seething over inwardly

With fierce indignation, 

In my bitterness of soul,

Hear my declaration,

I am of one element,

Levity my matter,

Like enough a withered leaf, For the winds to scatter.

Since it is the property

Of the sapient

To sit firm upon a rock

It is evident

That I am a fool, since I

Am a flowing river

Never under the same sky,

Transient forever.

FAMOUS WRITERS FROM WYOMING

John Perry Barlow

C. J. Box

Lynne Cheney

George Clayton Johnson

Lou Kilzer

Laurie Kutchins

Patricia Marie MacLachlan

Kyle Mills

Karen Schutte

Mark Spragg

WORDS OF WISDOM

Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory.

~Kazuo Ishiguro

FAMOUS WRITERS FROM WISCONSIN

Lois Ehlert (1934-2021)

Kevin Henkes 

Michael Perry

Kristen Radtke

John Ridley Jr.

Alice Sebold

Mona Simpson

Thomas R. Smith

Peter Straub (1943-2022)

WORDS OF WISDOM

 Always be a poet, even in prose.

~ Charles Baudelaire, Poet (1821-1867)

MAY DAY