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Charles Wright

Charles Wright was born in the small town of Pickwick Dam, Tennessee, on August 25, 1935. He attended several different schools, among them one in Sky Valley, North Carolina, that had only eight students, and the

Blackwater Mountain

by Charles Wright (b. 1935)

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 That time of evening, weightless and disparate, 
 When the loon cries, when the small bass 
 Jostle the lake's reflections, when 
 The green of the oak begins 
 To open its robes to the dark, the green 
 Of water to offer itself to the flames, 
 When lily and lily pad 
 Husband the last light 
 Which flares like a white disease, then disappears: 

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Poets Book of Days

August 25

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composes "Mezzo Cammin" in 1842.

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

What was used as evidence to convict Japanese socialist leader Kotoku Shunsui of treason and conspiracy against the Emperor, for which he was executed in 1911?

Answer

A poem he wrote under the set theme "New Year's Snow." "Seeing that it is a world / where it is bombs that fall, / first dream of the year is / the sound of the pines of Chiyoda / breaking under the weight of the snow." The anti-imperialist sentiment was judged sufficient to suspect his loyalty.

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