"Ice Hockey," by Hans Ostrom

 Reading/video of my small contribution to the literature of ice hockey:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPNbp5Yw2uM

"Peace," by Sara Teasdale

 Reading/video of a poem by the Pulitzer-Prize winner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-02VY-RGXsI

"The Ever Patient Woman" by Andrée Chedid

 Reading/video of a poem by Andrée Chedid, whose given name was  Andrée Saab Khoury. She was born in Egypt to parents whose background was Lebanese Christian and Greek (Orthodox Christian). She settled in France and became a renowned writer of prose and poetry, and among her honors was the Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOnNZsJRRhI

"Jazzanatomy," by James Emanuel

 A poem by poet, scholar, and professor James Emanuel (1921-2013). Reading/video:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNd4hncy9vo

"Dusk," by Gabriela Mistral

 Reading/video of a short poem by the Nobel-Prize-winning Chilean poet:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fou7HSjIp9M

"maggie and milly and molly and may," by e.e. cummings

 One by cummings from later in his career, reading and video:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu8Frf5FHNA

A Song about Regrets

 For your listening pleasure (maybe!), a song about regrets, music and recording by Roger Illsley, lyrics by Hans Ostrom (who he?) and Roger Illsley:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqbzQlMw3XU

Poem by Borges

 "I Ask Myself," better known as "Poem Written in a Copy of Beowulf," by Jorge Luis Borges--reading and video:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW6wVeG6Uj8

"Meeting Poets," by Eunice de Souza

de Souza was a well known Indian poet, fiction writer, and professor who taught at Xavier University in India. She earned an M.A. from Marquette University and a Ph.D. from the University of Mumbai. This is a wry little poem. 

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENcQ7YFEYNE

"Words," by Kamala Das

A good poem from the renowned Indian poet, Kamala Das, whose family name was Surayya. Reading/video, short:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te64fmXRimQ

From a Diary of the Plague Year (17)

I'm not supposed to leave the house.

So while you're out,

could you pick up one

of the 49 copies of the Gutenberg Bible?

(It can be a partial copy.)

Thanks. Also, I need a feather

from the small golden-crowned

manakin from the Amazon rain forest.

(It's a hybrid bird.) If you have

time, you might bring  back

the original arrangement 

for Duke Ellington's "Warm Valley."

And some bread and apples.

I'll be here all day! So

take your time. 

hans ostrom 2020

New Stuff

my favorite river

kept running from me

as if I were a drought.

my favorite birds

migrate with the rest

and send impostors back

the next year.

yes, and my favorite hammer

became a pacifist,

refuses to clobber nails.

also, I forgot where my

favorite tree stands in

the forest. that's embarrassing

and hurtful to the tree,

I'm sure. I need some new stuff

to admire.

hans ostrom 2020

"Tawny," by Carl Sandburg

Reading/video of a very short poem by Carl Sandburg concerning a color category, a season, and a memory of a face. From his book Smoke and Steel (1922).

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc-7M088exA