Winter Psalm by Richard Hoffman

February 6, 2020 / Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

Photo by Lloyd Freeman on Pexels.com

Boston snowbound, Logan closed, snowplows
and salt-trucks flashing yellow, drifts
tall as a man some places, visibility poor,
I sit by the window and watch the snow

blow sideways north-northeast, hot cup
in hand, robe over pajamas.
You have made me to seek refuge
and charged me to care for my brothers.

How cruel. That could be You out there
howling, cracking the trees, burying everything.
What could I possibly want from You
that would not undo the whole world as it is?

Holy Moley!!!

February 5, 2020 / Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

The response to the first issue of Hole In The Head Review has been positive!

Holy Moley! I’d call this an auspicious debut, but that would be one very weak adjective. I’m usually very reluctant to contribute to Inaugural Issues. Now, I’m sorry I missed the boat.

It’s easy to create a website; blog a bit when one has time. Takes a lot more vision and ambition to launch a literary/art review that has inspiring poetry by noted poets, compelling art and a muscular intelligence. I highly recommend Hole in the Head Review. Take some real time, nourish your mind, eyes and heart… and enjoy!

Sometimes we need more professional sports like we need a hole in the head ! Thanks Hole In the Head Review. (written during the Super Bowl)

I really enjoyed seeing the first issue! Congratulations!!

Very excited to have my poem appear in Hole In the Head Review’s first issue alongside some very great poets and artists.

To my pages-and-words mates, I am so proud to be among you, and to rediscover, especially right now, the joy & comfort that craft and companionship have to offer. And so we persist.

Congratulations! This new litmag IS what we need right now. Cheers to Hole In The Head!

…graphically beautiful and full of engaging work!

It is truly, truly beautiful. The music of the many poems, the different tones, points of view, levels of emotions, differences in location and voices—cannot believe you made this art so quickly and elegantly.

Please take a minute to tell us what you think. We’d love to hear from you. http://www.holeintheheadreview.com

Rilke, from Stundenbuch (translated by Robert Bly)

February 5, 2020 / Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

In this town the last house stands
as lonely as if it were the last house in the world

The highway, which the tiny town is not able to stop,
slowly goes deeper out into the night.

The tiny town is only a passing-over place,
worried and afraid, between two huge spaces –
a path running past houses instead of a bridge.

And those who leave the town wander a long way off
and many perhaps die on the road.

Life is tragic simply because…

February 2, 2020 / Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns, and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death – ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. – James Baldwin, “Down at the Cross,” in The Fire Next Time.

(photo: Grindstone, Maine)

more on forgiveness – Henri Nouwen

January 27, 2020January 26, 2020 / Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, “I no longer hold your offense against you” But there is more. We also free ourselves from the burden of being the “offended one.” As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God.

the one

January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 / Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

God is the One whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.
– St. Bonaventure

Image may contain: plant, outdoor and nature

birthdays remind us of…

January 24, 2020 / Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

Today would have been Henri Nouwen’s 88th birthday. He wrote:
“Celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people’s birthdays every day, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection.”