Elspeth Payne on…

The Book of Taliesin is a late Middle Welsh version of the ales of Gwion Bach and Taliesin, mostly around the court of Maelgyn Gynedd.  It was written in the 1550s, the same time Henry VIII was on the throne (or maybe collected then? Middle Welsh is 12th-14th c, and Taliesin was tenth c).  […]

Every now and then, serious academic study trips over sheer delight.  Thus it was I found the Beer Haiku website: a daily haiku submitted by readers.  As near as I can tell, the editor (Captain Hops) took a break and the site never picked up speed again, but there are some […]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/22/john-lewis-poem-gillian-clarke This poem is part of a window display at the Cardiff branch of department store John Lewis.  In the midst of our color-blazing, air-chilling autumn, when I am planning holidays and finding my sweaters, this really hit home.  Pun intended. Home by Gillian Clarke Evening, home after hours away, […]

The year is 1910.  The southeastern U.S. is still recovering from the Civil war, which devastated the region though it ended years before.  Edwin Mims and my great-grandfather Bruce Payne edit a volume – 454 pages in today’s edition! – to share the wealth of southern culture and make it […]

This is as I have it in my archives.  I am embarrassed how little information I have on how I got the article behind the link, or where.  If you recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit or request permission if necessary.  It’s pretty fascinating!  Ninkasi […]

  By Robert Herrick, 1591-1674, London, England To the Right Honourable Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland Come, sons of summer, by whose toil We are the lords of wine and oil; By whose tough labours, and rough hands, We rip up first, then reap our lands. Crown’d with the ears of corn, […]