Vox Populi

A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 6,000,000 visitors since 2014 and over 9,000 archived posts.

Baron Wormser: Doing Great

If a book can be both good-natured and lacerating, Voltaire’s  is that book. 

January 22, 2023 · 6 Comments

Michael Simms: GUSHER by Christopher Soden

Learning to be oneself and to love oneself is the central narrative in Gusher, a remarkable book about a gay man growing up in Dallas, Texas in the 1980s.

January 21, 2023 · 1 Comment

Matthew J. Parker: The Howling Resurrection of Ninemile

Until very recently, the score stood at Cows, 99,200,000, Wolves 0…. It took a lot of money to kill every last wolf out of the West. We behaved badly doing it: setting them on fire, feeding them ground up glass, et cetera.

January 13, 2023 · Leave a comment

Baron Wormser: Remembering the Alchemists & Other Essays 

One sentence speaks for all his direct, well-wrought sentences: “We are inside the largest militarist society the world has ever known, and we are at war always.”

January 11, 2023 · 1 Comment

Joan E. Bauer: They Left Chicago Behind

Saul Bellow called Chicago: a prairie city with a waterfront
& the trees he remembers, elms & cottonwoods.

January 2, 2023 · 5 Comments

Thomas Bulfinch: Simonides

On one occasion, when the poet was residing at the court of Scopas, king of Thessaly, the prince desired Simonides to prepare a poem in celebration of his exploits, to be recited at a banquet.

December 30, 2022 · 3 Comments

The Ancient Icelandic Saga Voluspo: “The Wise-Woman’s Prophecy”

Fast move the sons | of Mim, and fate
Is heard in the note | of the Gjallarhorn;
Loud blows Heimdall, | the horn is aloft,
In fear quake all | who on Hel-roads are

December 30, 2022 · 2 Comments

Baron Wormser: Lives of the Heroes

 When I was a boy, around the ages of nine and ten, I read dozens of biographies. I can still see the books.

December 11, 2022 · 7 Comments

Video: The Ref

A referee struggles to maintain control over a 2nd grade basketball game.

December 10, 2022 · Leave a comment

Michael Simms: My Recent and Forthcoming Books

Vox Populi doesn’t usually include advertisements, but I hope you will indulge me when I let you know that my recently published books are available.

December 7, 2022 · 14 Comments

Richard Cambridge: In Medias Res

Tom, the eldest son of Daniel and Helen Brownson, tells his parents he has dropped out of college. He is now in the crosshairs of the draft board and will be re-classified 1-A — a good chance he will be sent to — and possibly die in Vietnam.

November 4, 2022 · 2 Comments

Mike Schneider: Gerald Stern (1925-2022)

In a flashy white-straw hat, leaning on his bright red metal cane, step-by-step silently making his way to a seat at the podium, Stern commanded the audience without a word.

November 2, 2022 · 5 Comments

Rachel Hadas: Hypocrisy is beneath them – political figures in the Trump era don’t bother concealing their misdeeds

There seems to be no sense of shame or its cousin, guilt, in our time.

November 1, 2022 · 3 Comments

Charles Davidson: Vincent van Gogh | “Best and Deepest” Self-Portraits

IF ONE TAKES THE TIME to study Vincent van Gogh’s numerous self-portraits, it is apparent that there are several “Vincents” dwelling within the one Vincent.

October 30, 2022 · 2 Comments

Blog Stats

  • 5,965,387

Archives