Happy Birthday, Hank!

Today is Henry David Thoreau's birthday—Happy Birthday, Hank! I'll leave it to you to figure out how old he is...


THE POET'S DELAY
—Henry David Thoreau

In vain I see the morning rise,
In vain observe the western blaze,
Who idly look to other skies,
Expecting life by other ways.

Amidst such boundless wealth without,
I only still am poor within,
The birds have sung their summer out,
But still my spring does not begin.

Shall I then wait the autumn wind,
Compelled to seek a milder say,
And leave no curious nest behind,
No woods still echoing to my lay?

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LIGHT-WINGED SMOKE
—Henry David Thoreau

Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn,
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;
By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;
Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.

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Reaching Down Beneath Language: An Evening of Poetry with Art Beck and B.L. Kennedy will take place this Saturday night, July 16, at HQ (25th and R); doors open at 7:30pm. Art Beck, from San Francisco, is the author of collections of verse as well as books of translations. B.L. Kennedy is a Performance Poet who has studied with Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman and has published extensively, including Been Born Bronx from Rattlesnake Press. Donation for the evening: $5.

Put on your dancin' shoes for Joyce Odam's reading tomorrow night at The Book Collector, 7:30. We will be celebrating the release of her SpiralChap, Caught Against the Years, which was illustrated by her daughter, Charlotte Vincent.

—Medusa