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PROGRAMMING NOTE from the Author and Archivist


So obviously I just stopped blogging on this platform. I'll get back to it eventually. Or not. I'm taking a break from all social media. It seemed necessary for my mental health.

The last few years have been busy and … challenging:

- 2015 Happened.
- 2016 Let's call it The Lost Year. (Obviously words failed me.)
- 2017 about broke me. Literally. Mentally.
- 2018 was ridiculous, proving 2017 was just a warm up. (Good thing I was already broken so it couldn't hurt as much.#2018TrashCanFire I thought things were going okay, but maybe not?)

- 2019 was such a blur. I know there were highlights, but then stuff happened and carried into the next year...

- And then in March#2020 really took a turn. Who can even categorize 2020? Do we dare?


I kinda want a do-over of some of the last few years. But life doesn’t work that way.


So for now, I'm hunkering down. Regrouping. Trying to stay safe and sort some stuff out.


Stay safe everyone. Stay well.

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

National Poetry Month: Old Ironsides

What kind of New Englander would I be, if I didn't preserve this one for my little Red Sox nieces and nephews? I've been on this warship, and a majestic reminder of our nautical past she is indeed.

The "Constitution" was a small warship (technically a frigate) that had fought so well and so often in the War of 1812 that it had been nicknamed "Old Ironsides." In 1830 the Secretary of the Navy considered she had outlived her usefulness, and recommended that the vessel be disposed of or demolished. When he heard of this, Oliver Wendell Homes, the New England poet, editor, and essayist, wrote a sad and ironic poem about the old "eagle of the sea." The poem was reprinted everywhere, and there was so much public resentment that "Old Ironsides" was saved from "the harpies of the shore," those who would have profited from its destruction. Instead of being sold or broken up, "Old Ironsides" was rebuilt and remained afloat, a symbol of glorious achievement.
Old Ironsides
September 14, 1830

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long hast it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it run the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee--
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
pgs. 219-221
Story Poems: An Anthology of Narrative Verse selected and edited by Louis Untermeyer, Washington Square Press, New York 1961

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