H is for Hawk

About songs, poetry, and politics—and writing.

I am struck by the differences in the genre topics—and by my perspective as I have aged. Folk, country, rock, pop, and blues songs are almost exclusively about love—or lack of it. Although I am 81 and single, my songs tend to fall in this category. I would like to reflect on the why of this, but I would try your patience.

Poetry moves in that direction, but it also addresses larger concerns: like as that wonderful group, 4 Non Blondes, sang, “What’s Going On?” What are we doing here? Where’s God? Why are people so fucked up? Why do people like me like green? Killing Whales. The stars. Zen.

Love is there, but the emotion is deeper and more diffused than love.
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so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

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And then there is prose. The genres and topics are wide open. In this Substack, I have focused on political writing because I write one op-ed a month for the local newspaper and repost it here. We have a writing group in Harrisonburg dedicated to flooding the zone with op-eds and letters to the editor. Our group thinks Trump and his acolytes are perilously close to destroying democracy and writing is one way we are resisting.

In the last few days, I have broken out a bit, largely because of some incidents and conversations that would try your patience if I tried to explain them; but one of them lay in my having watched the movie, H is for Hawk. The storyline drives deep. The book is a must-read.

H is for Hawk is in part why I posted my poem, “One More Time,” written in 2017 when I was still trying to replace Sarah, who I lost fourteen years ago. I was rereading some of my diary entries and stumbled across the poem. Then I decided to post another poem explaining why I write. Thanks, if you got this far.

I suspect this post was just fair warning that I intend to open up my Substack genre.