Category Archives: Words and Music

Spring Songs

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

It is a beautiful day here in Humptulips County, the kind that causes young men to sing aloud and makes old men wish they still could. Birdsong is omnipresent, the birds, young and old, knowing no inhibitions about singing lustfully … Continue reading →

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The Songs of Mystery

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

Our farm is once again blessed with the music of chorus frogs.ย  They came out of hibernation late this year no doubt due to Humptulips County’s persistently cold weather, but they are back and singing with abandon.ย  Last night they … Continue reading →

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Little Worlds

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

“But from here to the garden gate Where the sweet wild roses wait Itโ€™s a little world.” Gretchen Peters, Little World, from the album Hello Cruel World “The little world of Don Camillo is to be found somewhere in the … Continue reading →

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The Lost Lessons of Art

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Gavin Stevens

This is something I think about often. This great river of American soulfulness, from Anne Hutchinson to Henry Thoreau to Sojourner Truth to Margaret Fuller to Fats Waller to Bob Dylan to William Carlos Williams to William Faulkner to Janis … Continue reading →

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Lyrics and Poetry

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Gavin Stevens

April is National Poetry Month. The state of modern poetry seems sad, with most practitioners of the art focused upon small, insignificant episodes of self-revelation with no attempt to find universal meaning. While I cannot pretend to have read the … Continue reading →

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A Treasury of William Faulkner

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Gavin Stevens

The University of Virginia recently posted a website of recordings of William Faulkner from the period in which he served as Writer-in-Residence in the late 1950โ€ฒs. I have just discovered and begun to listen to the recordings, but I strongly … Continue reading →

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April and Poetry

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Gavin Stevens

April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. T. S. Eliot, The Wasteland April is National Poetry Month. It is a month in which we should … Continue reading →

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Dance Me to the End of Life

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Gavin Stevens

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin Dance me through the panic till Iโ€™m gathered safely in Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove Dance me to the end of love Leonard Cohen, … Continue reading →

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