On the Road in Florida: Loneliness

Macklemore may be looking for a come-up when he browses the thrift shop but the Bar None Group hits the bookshelves looking for dusty first editions and the off chance of discovering lesser known poets and their poetry. On a rainy day in Sarasota, Florida we found a volume of poetry from a local resident — Joan Armour Mendell.

On the Road: Emma Wilson Emery's Lovely Louisiana

Spanish moss haunt the trees in this Louisiana bayou.

The Bar None Group literary roadtrip now heads east from Texas to Louisiana. Bridging the two states is Emma Wilson Emery. A native of Texas, Emery was the first Poet Laureate of Louisiana in 1942. A post she held until her death in 1970. Her best known poem Lovely Louisiana was once set to music by Oscar J. Fox — a "composer of cowboy songs."

On the Road in Texas: Legend of the Bluebonnet

The Texas fields are covered
With a blanket of deep blue.
But for one Native American girl,
This would not be true.

Finding Emily Dickinson in Texas

If its Friday this must be Denton, Texas. In the quest to escape the northern cold our spring break roadtrip finds us in Denton, Texas. In wandering the town square of Denton we came across Recycled Books and their sandwich board out front quoting Emily Dickinson.

State of Mine

Whether it is Florida or Jersey, querido
Wherever you lay your hat is my home
It is your heart and where it takes you
That has become my road-map on this crazy journey

Song of Nothingness

I am the dust
Gathered on your feet,
Swirling around an invisible center,
Beyond existence.

Finnegan's Wake

Tim Finnegan lived in Watling street
A gentleman Irish, mighty odd
He had a brogue both rich and sweet
And to rise in the world he carried a hod
You see he'd a sort of a tipplin' way
With a love for the liquor he was born
And to send him on his way each day,
He'd a drop of the craythur every morn'

Beware the Ides of March

The Ides of March — March 15. William Shakespeare wrote in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 13–24 that Caesar best beware the Ides of March. And it was The Ides of March in 44 B.C. that Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the senate. Led by Brutus and Cassius, as many as 60 conspirators — including senators — had a hand in the death of Caesar who was stabbed 23 times.

But what informed Shakespeare that Caesar beware the Ides of March and just what are the Ides? First let's look at Shakespeare's famous passage.

A Dream in Violet

I had a dream
From long ago
A dream beyond my dreams
Beyond my hopes and desires

Chicago

         HOG Butcher for the World,
         Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
         Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
         Stormy, husky, brawling,
         City of the Big Shoulders:

Lent for Resolution

New Year's is for everyone
Lent is for the Catholics

On New Year's Eve you have a choice going forward
Resolve to give up on what holds you back or
Aspire to better the surroundings of you internally, externally, spiritually

Twelve Reasons Why Women Should Vote

To commemorate Women's History Month the Bar None Group takes a look at a popular handbill from the turn of the last century outlining twelve reasons why women should be allowed to vote. The pamphlet could just as easily be called "Because" and as a rallying cry for the suffrage movement it also reads as an effective poem.