Might Stain Your Shirt

POETS DAY! James Dickey

A meta tale where a character breaks from narrative, chooses the wild, and stirs something primal in the teller. It’s all there, and told simply.

22 hrs ago • Ben Sears

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February 2026

POETS Day! Lies, Damn Lies

Melodic, exotic, and factory preset to slip into a line of iambic. I flogged it to death. It became my ersatz ersatz.

Feb 27 • Ben Sears

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POETS Day! A Boy’s Life

There was a time before I discovered girls and beer when I ranged a similar landscape. It’s not long till he moves on as well.

Feb 20 • Ben Sears

POETS Day! John Millington Synge

W.B. Yeats liked it. Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory when she’s not at home, did not. A riot broke out in the theater on the second night.

Feb 13 • Ben Sears

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POETS Day! Dickinson and Hopkins as a Control Group

Impenetrability has its allure, but Dickinson wasn’t trying to invoke mystique. Her reader was herself, privy to all she knew.

Feb 6 • Ben Sears

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This Essay Is Not a Novel, and I'm Okay with That

So, why do so many people indent lines awkwardly to call their work poetry? Why do they insist on the designation?

Feb 4 • Ben Sears

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January 2026

POETS Day! Carl Sandburg

Reports run hot and cold. The slights seem more rancorous than necessary. The hagiographies exalt quotidian stuff.

Jan 30 • Ben Sears

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POETS Day! A Look at Narcissus

Narcissus, cursed, becomes this self-obsessed creature whose name we toss at the selfish and vain to this day.

Jan 23 • Ben Sears

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POETS Day! Richard Wilbur’s Tea with Sylvia and Mrs Plath

It would be a sad bit of trivia but for Wilbur’s poem.

Jan 16 • Ben Sears

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POETS Day! Eliot’s 1st Part of the 2nd of Four Quartets

I don’t doubt that I can enjoy free verse as I often do, but am I handicapped? Is there a level of appreciation I don’t know exists.

Jan 9 • Ben Sears

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December 2025

Southern Style Smothered Pork Chops

I stick with the meat-and-three tradition of using the cheap breakfast style chops, but I throw in some white wine and herb de Provence because I’m a…

Dec 22, 2025 • Ben Sears

POETS Day! Eliot’s Magi

Waiting for deliverance and searching for enlightenment share an end, but I don’t think Eliot likes that meta stuff.

Dec 19, 2025 • Ben Sears