John Samuel Tieman: Bullet Control — Toward A Compromise
[Author’s note: Some time after I published an earlier version of this proposal in 1993, I happened to teach a class at Olin-Winchester, an industrial compound on the east side of … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Autumn
a withered branch a bird looking for some rest an autumn sunset even the stones in the stream seem tired of the old sun — still it’s strange – autumn … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Haibun
he pencils me in the doctor hints of cancer but we’ll talk next week What should I do as the end of summer approaches? Earlier today, when I went to … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Labor Day 2015
since I’ve retired I’ve been waiting for the good times it’s like the bartender points to the back room and says high rollers only or like when I worked and … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: A Few Thoughts On Sanders And Socialism
There is a lot of debate these days as to why Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, in his run to be president, is doing so well. Pundits think he will win … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Ordinary War
You ever wonder why, on the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in D. C., the names are not listed alphabetically? The tourist guide answer says something about listing them by date, thus … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: The Art
To honor Lawrence Ferlinghetti on his 96th birthday, I send along this poem about poems. i I’ve never written a poem that said what I meant one means as much … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Half Past
for David Falk take fireflies for example when you were a kid you caught them in a bottle and let them flicker themselves to death in your bedroom fifty years … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Family Plot
. History of Poetry this afternoon’s brief history of poetry — I take out the trash a hungry robin I know sings for her dinner raisin — Family Plot sis … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: The Traveler
another gray road a homeless veteran stands at attention — You consider your obligations. You drive on. There is a running man, a shabby man. It would be easy to … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: War Without Cost and Patriotism Without Sacrifice or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Draft
It is the logic of our times, No subject for immortal verse— That we who lived by honest dreams Defend the bad against the worse. — Cecil Day-Lewis . I … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Ferguson and the We-ness of Transition
All we have is anger and sadness. On the front page of Friday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch was a story of two policemen shot in Ferguson. There was also a huge photograph … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: The Party Of ‘No!’
If Democrats want an emotionally charged, yet meaningful bumper sticker for the 2016 election, I suggest, “Republican = Anarchy + Nihilism.” I am not anti-Republican. Nor am I anti-conservative. I … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Are you a socialist and just don’t know it?
Yesterday, I heard a reporter say that she was surprised that Senator Bernie Sanders has garnered so much support. I’m not. Not long ago, Vox Populi published my argument in support of … Continue reading →