Poetry and War in Ghost of Tsushima

August 9, 2020 Mary

Ghost of Tsushima, a new game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, places players in the shoes of Jin Sakai, a 13th-century samurai hoping to liberate his island home from the clutches of the invading Mongols. The game plays much like other “map games,” inviting players to explore the island and find interesting collectibles along the way. Many aspects of the game are customizable; you can change your armor, your bow color, your weapons. You can even pet foxes that helpfully show you the way to shrines. The game is beautiful, with lush fields of pampas grass and surprisingly detailed NPCs. It’s a fun game.

But today, I’m not here to tell you how fun Ghost of Tsushima is. I’m here to talk about poetry.

The Erlking, Over the Garden Wall, and Kindness in the Face of Death

May 12, 2020 Mary

Fairy tales are part of the world’s vocabulary, with tales of various types spreading from continent to continent. There’s a Chinese version of “Cinderella,” for example, and an Italian version of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Something about the home-away-home structure of fairy tales is written into our brains as children and continues to stick with us as we grow up. Each semester when I teach a unit on fairy tales, college students are shocked to realize (or re-learn, maybe) that the tales that seemed so innocent when they were children are filled with death, ruin, and depravity. Those parts--the truly dark parts of fairy tales--always get glossed over in the Disney versions.

April Showers Bring May (Poems About) Flowers

April 28, 2020 Susan

National Poetry Month is almost over, and because of the current pandemic, April feels like it didn’t really even happen this year. Our normal springtime activities have been halted, and we haven’t been able to truly enjoy this season as we usually would. Today, I’m turning to poetry to channel that spring energy and feelings of hope that should come with seeing the world blossom, even if we’re not getting to experience it fully this year. Here are five poems about flowers to carry you into May and bring a bit of beauty to your quarantined spring.

BSG #36: All Poets On Deck / Nature Poem

December 31, 2019 The Squad

Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!

Six Poems for Ultimate Autumnal Ambience

October 1, 2019 Susan

It's finally fall, and I'm running on pumpkin spice lattes and dying to wear all of my cute sweaters. (Is it going to cool down anytime soon?) Poetry always gets me in the mood for new seasons, so I'm here with the perfect autumn-inspired poems to help you pretend it isn't 95 degrees outside. Get out your decorative gourds and a cup of (iced) apple cider to read the poems on this list because it's October, damn it, even if it doesn't feel like it yet.

We're Gonna Sing It Again: Thoughts on Hadestown

September 18, 2019 Todd Osborne

In the first song of Anais Mitchell’s song cycle-turned-musical Hadestown, Hermes tells the audience everything they need to know: “It’s an old song,” he sings. “It’s a tragedy...but we’re gonna sing it again.” The main (and side, such as exist in this mostly five-person musical) characters are introduced: Persephone, Hades, Hermes himself, Orpheus, and Eurydice. The audience, he assumes, already knows how this will all end. Boy meets girl; girl dies; boy tries to save girl; boy fails. But maybe, Hermes says, it will turn out different this time. So, we’re gonna sing it again.