Tag Archives: Leslie Schultz Poetry

April 30, 2022: Spotlight on W.B. Yeats’s Poem, “The Wild Swans at Coole”; Background on My Poem, “Swan Song”

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Image by Andreas Glöckner from Pixabay

I didn’t encounter William Butler Yeats‘s poetry until the year after I was graduated from university. At first, I didn’t like it. Decades on, however, I cannot imagine my life without his work and without his example of steady workmanship despite the persistent ups of downs of personal and communal life. Like some of the other poems I have shared this month, this poem is one that I spent time committing to memory. 

The Wild Swans at Coole


The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?


William Butler Yeats
Image by panimo from Pixabay

In searching out a photo of Irish swans, I couldn’t resist sharing the image above that I stumbled upon.

Background on My Poem, “Swan Song”:

I know that Yeats has set the bar very high–stratospherically high–in not one but two magnificent poems deploying the force of swan imagery and mythology. (The autumnal elegaic one above, in all its calm and stately melancholy, contrasts markedly with his sonnet “Leda and the Swan.”) Nonetheless, there is always room closer to earth for another swan poem. This very wet spring, Tim, Julia, and I have seen a surprising number of swans along the Interstate resting on the ephemeral ponds created by snow melt and rain. My poem for today reflects these sightings.

Image by Andreas Senftleben from Pixabay
Image by romavor from Pixabay

Thank you for joining me on this April journey. Here’s to seeing new poems all year long!

LESLIE

(Photo: Leslie Schultz)

Newsflash! I Will Be Reading My Poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Koan,” at the PENSIVE Launch on April 21, 2022–Attendance in Person or on Zoom

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I am very excited to be included in the pages of the fourth issue of Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts. The journal was launched in 2020 as a project of the Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. The link will take you to the home page, and from there you can look at the first three back issues. That issue will be published on Friday, April 22, 2022. The evening before Pensive is holding a hybrid launch party, and I was honored to be asked to participate by reading my poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Koan.” If you would like to tune in, the link to the Zoom event is: https://northeastern.zoom.us/j/99958817522 or you can use the QR code above.

(Please note that the times listed are U.S. Eastern Standard Time.)

Red Wing Arts–21st Annual Poet-Artist Collaboration–Reading on April 29, 2022–I Will Be Reading “Echo from Hug Point”

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Initiated by The Crossings in Zumbrota, Minnesota, in 2001, the Poet-Artist Collaboration has been continued under the aegis of Red Wing Arts since 2020.

Back in 2010, I learned of this collaboration when I saw a flyer posted at the Northfield Public Library, and I was lucky enough to have had five poems selected to be re-interpreted by visual artists between 2010 and 2017. (Here are some posts I did in 2017 on the event, before and after.)

This year, I was pleased to hear that my poem, “Echo from Hug Point,” was selected for the 2022 Poet-Artist Collaboration. I am happy to be part of this celebration of literary and visual arts again in a new setting. It is especially nice to be included in a group of thirty-six poets, many of whose fine work is already known to me, including Rob Hardy, Diane LeBlanc, D.E. Green, Becky Bolling, Mac Gimse, Marie Gery, and Larry Gavin of Northfield, and Emilio DeGrazia, Ken McCullough, and Scott Lowry of Winona, Minnesota, as well as Joyce Sutpen, (whom I was able to hear reading her work at Content Bookstore a few years ago.) I look forward to the seeing the visual art created from all of the poets work (the art works are on exhibit at the Red Wing Depot Gallery) and to hearing everyone read at the St. James Hotel on April 29. Many of the poets are also participating in small readings during April. For a full list of who, when, and where, please see the website for Red Wing Arts.

THIRD WEDNESDAY MAGAZINE Publishes Winter 2022 Issue; My Poem, “Dandelion,” is Included!

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Photo taken in front of City Lights Bookstore, haunt of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and site of many poetry readings (Leslie Schultz 1988)

You can read the digital version at no cost HERE

To purchase a paper copy or subscribe (or submit your own work, check out the Third Wednesday Magazine website.)

My poem, “Dandelion,” I just learned, is the winning “50/50” poem for this issue! Such a surprise and such a delight to me because I know the competition is stiff. In fact, this issue is jam-packed with 73 poems from 65 poets. It just arrived today, and you know that I will be curled up with it tomorrow. Fortunately it is predicted to be a snow day here.

(Please note that full biographies of poets are available on the earlier broadside posts the magazine published as each poem was accepted, and they are accessible on their website. As an example, here is what you find if you go to the right-hand search bar over “Posts” and search on my last name. You can do the same for any poet in this issue. You can also subscribe, free of charge, to receive posts of newly accepted poems for future issues.)

This issue’s cover (as you will see from the link above) is a splendid visual arts collage by editor-in-chief David Jibson called “No Strings Attached.” It is an homage to the famed City Lights Book Store in San Francisico and one of its celebrated poets, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Here is a link to the Poetry Foundation’s website post on the famous (an perennially delightful) poem referenced, “Don’t Let That Horse…”)

I was unable to figure out how to reproduce the cover image for the Winter 2022 issue from the pdf provided, and I was unwilling to wait until my own print copy arrived in the mail, so I am sharing two images from my own pilgrimage there many years ago. These were taken from inside the bookstore looking out. Only in San Francisco! (Or maybe Ann Arbor!)

Also City Lights! (Leslie Schultz, 1988)

Happy Reading!

THE ORCHARDS Winter Issue is Published! It Includes My Poems “Northern Months” and “Again”

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orchards front winter 2021

I awoke here in Northfield to snow sifting down this morning. Still dark out, the street and sidewalks were as bright as blank paper. The gardens, trees, and lawns were dark silhouettes and planes of shadow.

Then I discovered that the new issue of The Orchards had been published, always a cause for celebration. I love this wintery cover image of the vintage train steaming along a country track. It reminds me of how the holidays, fully laden with traditions and new surprises, advances upon us every year. It also seems an apt visual metaphor for this particular issue, filled as it is with 98 poems by 77 poets. I have not yet had time to read any of the other poets’ work, but I am looking forward to curling up with a cup of cocoa and slowly turning the pages of the paper copy I have ordered once it arrives. What better oasis of rich calm could I imagine on a snowy winter day?

This issue is available for purchase through Kelsay Books and Amazon, and the digital version is available for free. A link to the digital copy can be found on The Orchards Poetry Journal homepage. You can also publish a paper copy there.

Happy Reading!

Front Door with Square Wreath
Snow-capped Echinacea on Tim’s Post-stamp Prairie
Old Orchard Ladder Supporting a Kiwi Vine