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from the verse of the queen

from the verse of the queen

6.30.2025

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book of jobe
Jun 30, 2025
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from the verse of the queen
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Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.

Ambrose Bierce

jobe


I hold an ache inside my chest that should never have been allowed to exist. I built a box inside of a box, and yet another box to hold them both. All three boxes lock with a key. My plan was to place my ache inside these boxes and then to bury them deep in the earth, in a cemetery that has no name, but I know now that I never will. As I stare at these boxes that I made with my own hands, by my own choice, the sun rises and sets. Another day.

jobe


There are inanimate things out there loving each other, a poem by francine j. harris


The past is gone
– may I be able to find the strength
to fully live in the present moment

looking up the sky is a color
where blue meets silver
like a steel ship on a clear clean sea

jobe


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"Yes I loved them, those gatherings late at night,—"

Yes I loved them, those gatherings late at night,—
the small table, glasses with frosted sides,
fragrant vapor rising from black coffee,
the fireplace, red with powerful winter heat,
the biting gaiety of a literary joke,
and the first helpless and frightening glance of my love.

by Anna Akhmatova, 1889—1966
translated by Jane Kenyon, 1947—1995


jobe


1945

After the nazis were finally driven back

out from the soviet union

anna akhmatova read her poems

to the wounded and the dying

although well into middle-age

they say she was more beautiful than ever

that she had a glow that was ethereal

and kindness was in the blue of her eyes

can you imagine it

the wounded heroes of mother russia filled

with the rich poignancy that leaps

from the verse of the queen

jobe


Adieu to Norman, Bon Jour to Joan and Jean-Paul, a poem by Frank O’Hara


Something rises out of the east – a new day

like an idea being formed

or like a child being born

light in the sky – life on the earth

jobe

Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.

Carl Sandburg

I was just a kid when I first read Carl Sandburg. My school library had his ‘Chicago Poems,’ and I began with that. My favorites are ‘The People, Yes’ for poetry and the full 6 volume edition of his Lincoln biography, 2 volumes subtitled ‘The Prairie Years’ and 4 volumes of ‘The War Years.’ There were other editions, condensed. Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore had the full 6 volumes. I read them all. It is the only place where I have even seen the full set. I have a fair amount of Lincoln trivia as a result.

Carl Sandburg spent about a decade on the Lincoln books. He was totally engrossed, and nearly filled his barn with his notes, research materials, and early drafts. His wife tried to play a joke on him by hiring an actor to dress as Lincoln and to meet Sandburg in the woods where he liked to take a morning walk. Sandburg just said, “Good morning, Mr. President,” and walked past ‘Lincoln’ like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I have a fair bit of Sandburg trivia, too.

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Today it was shower time for the planet earth

at least the part of the earth where I live

a long steady rain washing it all

the sky, the trees, the ground - all was washed clean

it feels like a fresh start to me

even putah creek and cache creek were flushed out

and it’s a good thing

I’ve always heard that cleanliness is next to godliness

sister – pass me that soap

jobe


Think before you speak. Read before you think.

Fran Lebowitz

Thank you for reading this. I intend to keep doing this until either death or incapacitation stops me. Or perhaps until ICE snatches me up for having a Cuban grandfather, in-laws from China, and having never voted for a Republican in my life. I own banned books, too. For paid subscribers there is more below, including Conrad Aiken reading one of his poems and a link to poem by Lucille Clifton.

jobe

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