In Memoriam: Dietrich Bonhoeffer 8 April 1945

https://soundcloud.com/arthur-turfa-1/w-h-auden-fridays-child-in

     The more I think about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the more impressed and humbled I am. He was one of the courageous ones who opposed Nazism. He volunteer to be a Wehrmacht chaplain, but was denied. I was able to see the memorial stone in Berlin a few years back in the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery, in memory of him and other members of the 20 July 1944 conspiracy.

     I am a retired Lutheran pastor, and have served German=speaking communities in the USA, as well as having extensive experience living and studying in Germany. Auden is one of my favorite poets, and his poem about Bonhoeffer moves me deeply. I decided to share my reading of it with you.

1 Year Anniversary for "Places and Times"

     As hard as it seems, it has only been one year since eLectio Publishing released Places and Times. I have been blessed with meeting so many wonderful people, and to give about  ten readings around South Carolina from the book and also include some newer works.

     Cover art from vy a very dear friend, Carol Worthington Levy, who will be putting up some of her other works on line.

     The link from my Google+ Collections contains quite a few posts. I am also on Goodreads and Amazon, as well as Facebook.   https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/k5kxAB

     Signed copies are possible; contact me for details.  I am also calling for friends and fans to record their favorite poem and send me the link for another Google+ Collections with one already in. Thanks, Audrey!

Merle Haggard, RIP

     Some people sing about hard times, prison, and poverty, but have no personal experience of them. Merle Haggard was nine years old when he father died, and soon turned to music. His talent was evident, but he had multiple arrests as a juvenile, and as an adult served time in California's San Quentin Prison, where he heard a Johnny Cash concert in 1958.

     Because of all this, there was an authenticity about Merle. As a teenager caught up in the sixties, I as amazed at songs like "Okie from Muskogee" and "The Fightin' Side of Me,", but was enthralled by "Mam Tried". There was something about the music that drew me all the same. One of the earliest Outlaws of Country Music, he did his things.

     Nor did he forget his roots, or try to run away from them. He personified the best of America, and had a sense of fairness. Here is a link about some comments he made defending President Obama:

http://tasteofcountry.com/merle-haggard-president-obama/

     And here is a link of "Mama Tried", which arguably has the best refrain of all time:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKuc4nfJByc

He belongs on a postage stamp!

"Punch" by Ray McManus- a Must Read

     Future literary historians in these parts may one day talk about how Gilbert High School bred two poets. One found hi voice there again, another found it for the first time. The latter is Ray McManus, and his Punch exalts everyday work in the way that Philip Levine did.

     This is an excellent book of poetry; Interspersed with some text poems, the majority of the work deals with the author's experiences in tree-cutting and growing up in rural South Carolina. The language is tight, even intense at times, yet full of emotion and imagery. One need not to have experienced what McManus has lived to appreciate this book. Like Philip Levine, Ray McManus finds poetry and satisfaction in daily work, which need not crush the spirit. I especially liked :How to Add a Porch to a Trailer", "The Blacksmith", and "Dog Box".  

A Song Stuck in My Head and Linkredirector

    Recently my wife and I have taken to watching When Calls the Heart  on Netflix.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Calls_the_Heart_(TV_series)
 
     Set in western Canada, I started to think about Ian Tyson and a song of his started running through my mind. I might have the vinyl, but I haven't checked. I tended to buy albums from the same artist(s), and so I have several Ian & Sylvia's in my collection.

     A few moments into an Internet search reminded me that the song, Stories He'd Tell  from "Full Circle", released in 1968. I cannot find the lyrics separately, but Tyson's poetic gifts are clearly evident, first the song, and then a recent article about Tyson, one of Canada's national treasures. He is an authentic cowboy, poet, songwriter, and huitarist. I remember seecing his 30-minute TV show in syndication when I was at Penn State. One episode featured the late Jim Ed Brown, whom we saw at the Grand Ole Opry a few years ago.

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74r3Lx28EM


http://nodepression.com/article/ian-tyson-remembers-mark-knopfler-fondly-dylan-not-so-much





Linkredirector connects one quickly to amazon to a book link. In  my case, it is of course my Places and Times.No muss, no fuss.

Looking ahead to June

     With one event already scheduled  https://www.facebook.com/events/1693538027592468/  for June, there might be another one in the works.

     https://www.facebook.com/302Artisans/   located at 302 Senate Street in Columbia, SC, the shop overlooks the Broad River and a little further on, the Gervais Street Bridge. JCottage Industries manages the shop, and is eager to have a poetry event. The shop is under new management, and in addition to selling jewelry, candles, crafts and tea, they schedule Low Teas on a regular basis.

     I need to start contacting some poet friends to see if we can join forces in the second half of June.

Happy Poetry Month!

    No fooling, I sit here on the last weekday of Spring Break watching not the deer in the driveway, but the rain pouring down. I will post two April-themed poetic things today.

     The first is my reading in Middle English of the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Of the dozen or so recording I have on Soundcloud, this one is by far the one that gets the most play. Perhaps people want to see who would ever try this. I must say that knowing German helps with Middle English.

https://soundcloud.com/arthur-turfa-1/prologue-canterbury-tales-in

   And "April is the cruelest month", as TS Eliot reminds us in The Waste Land:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rpFBSO65P4

     In the popular mind, poets do not hold regular jobs or have normal lives. They exist on air and live for art's sake. But Chaucer was a knight, a diplomat at times, and a figure at court. Eliot was a banker and then a publisher. I will speak more on this theme in future posts.

     Poetry month.....every month for some of us!