Essays
Original Essays by Warren GastonD. H. Lawrence & Divinities
I worship Christ, I worship Jehovah, I worship Pan, I worship Aphrodite. But I do not worship hands nailed and running with blood upon a cross, nor licentiousness, nor lust. I want them all, all the gods. They are all God. But I must serve in real love. If I take...
American Dionysus & Apollo
In 1969 America experienced the thrall of two Greek gods at play on the stage of our national psyche. One at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and one in upstate New York. The first event happened on July 19, when a rocket named after the Roman god Saturn blasted...
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
If I could spend an afternoon with any 19th century American poet, it would be with the incomparable Emily Dickinson. I picture us sitting in her sunlit Amherst flower garden drinking tea. This woman in her white dress had a huge and hungry mind. I could learn so much...
Poetry and the Internet
When I was in college studying T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land for the first time, I made the mistake of sitting down to read the poem in my dorm room. I opened the book expecting an intellectual challenge and I got one. What I didn’t expect was a physical challenge. ...
Mary Oliver, Poet (1935-2019)
The poet Mary Oliver died two days ago, January 17, 2019. I want some of her poems read at my funeral. She has written many poems that speak to me. It will be a long funeral. Although her poems are pleasant to read and hear, they are not appropriate for the sentiment...
On ‘Cold Pleasure’ (poem posted 5/15/18) Poetry Breaks Things
At first glance, ‘Cold Pleasure’ doesn’t look like much of a poem. And compared to Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ or Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ it isn’t. It barely looks like a poem, no rhyme scheme, no rhythm. Yet it counts as a poem because it dis-covers (uncovers, reveals) a...
To the Criminals Who Killed Poetry (1957 – 1961)
To the criminals who taught poetry in my high school and think they got away with murder, we know who you are. We have no DNA evidence. But we have photographic evidence of you at the crime scene, my high school yearbooks from 1957 to 1961. Don’t try deny it. You’re...
An Explication of “I Refuse”
I Refuse (posted 4/3/18) What exactly is the reason for your refusal? Why not join the main game? Everyone is winning. To be a winner, what do you have to lose? Maybe you’ll be lucky. ...
Uncanny
“How can we continue to be at once astonished at the world and yet at home in it? How can this queer cosmic town give us at once the fascination of a strange town and the comfort and honor of being our own town?” G. K. Chesterton In the above quote, the Christian...