Linda's Literary Home

Author: Linda Sue Grimes

  • Emily Dickinson’s “I had not minded – Walls”

    Image: Emily Dickinson - Amherst College - Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 - likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet
    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “I had not minded – Walls”

    in Emily Dickinson’s “I had not minded – Walls,” the Dickinsonian speaker is exploring the vast psychological boundaries of separation of the soul from its Creator. Ultimate spiritual separation remains incredibly agonizing. This poem examines barriers hindering profound soul communion.

    Introduction and Text of “I had not minded – Walls”

    This classic lyric isolates the intense human struggle against metaphysical boundaries. The text employs unique punctuation to dramatize profound spiritual isolation. It features short lines marked by the poet’s characteristic slant rime patterns.

    The speaker details an arduous quest to reach the Belovèd Entity. Formidable external blockades feel simple compared to thin spiritual barriers. This innovative structure emphasizes the inner world over earthly limitations.

    The narrative presents an incredible journey through cosmic obstructions. Physical structures offer tangible challenges that the soul can conquer. Intangible limits present much more treacherous territory for the seeker.

    I had not minded – Walls

    I had not minded – Walls –
    Were Universe – one Rock –
    And far I heard his silver Call
    The other side the Block –

    I’d tunnel – till my Groove
    Pushed sudden thro’ to his –
    Then my face take her Recompense –
    The looking in his Eyes –

    But ’tis a single Hair –
    A filament – a law –
    A Cobweb – wove in Adamant –
    A Battlement – of Straw –

    A limit like the Veil
    Unto the Lady’s face –
    But every Mesh – a Citadel –
    And Dragons – in the Crease –

    Commentary on “I had not minded – Walls”

    The text offers deep insights into human perception and cosmic limits. Tangible barriers dissolve before determined action. Spiritual veils present the most difficult challenges to overcome.

    First Stanza: “I had not minded – Walls”

    I had not minded – Walls –
    Were Universe – one Rock –
    And far I heard his silver Call
    The other side the Block –

    The opening lines establish a bold hypothesis regarding physical limitations. The speaker claims that immense material obstacles would cause no distress. Even total cosmic obstruction seems manageable to the determined soul.

    A massive block of rock represents tangible reality. The speaker possesses the strength to confront solid material challenges directly. Physical distance cannot diminish the power of deep spiritual focus.

    The distant Belovèd emits a beautiful silver call across space. This pure auditory signal guides the seeker through earthly darkness. It provides comfort amid the vast coldness of creation.  Hindus call this sound “Om”; Christians call it the “Comforter.”

    Material blockades fail to discourage the speaker’s intense longing. In my earlier essays on Dickinsonian poems, I have discussed the speaker’s confrontation with spatial alienation. This dynamic requires deep contemplative musing to resolve fully.

    The silver call represents the  internal divine pull toward unity. Paramahansa Yogananda explains that the inner cosmic sound guides seekers back to the Infinite Source. This sacred concept highlights the eternal nature of the soul.

    The universe as a single rock represents a unified challenge. The speaker welcomes any measurable distance separating the dualities of existence. Concrete boundaries provide a clear goal for the active seeker.

    Earthly limitations seem minor when compared to internal psychological blocks. The speaker desires a direct path toward the Belovèd’s presence.  Material walls cannot trap a mind focused on eternity.

    Second Stanza: “I’d tunnel – till my Groove”

    I’d tunnel – till my Groove
    Pushed sudden thro’ to his –
    Then my face take her Recompense –
    The looking in his Eyes –

    The speaker outlines an active plan to pierce through matter. Tunneling requires intense concentration and unyielding personal effort over time. This process represents the systematic dissolution of earthly blockades.

    The word groove indicates a specific path of destiny. The speaker follows a precise internal trajectory toward ultimate reunion. This focused movement ensures an eventual breakthrough into divine awareness.

    A sudden breakthrough rewards the diligent efforts of the soul. The speaker anticipates a glorious meeting after the long labor. This dramatic intersection brings the long separation to an end.

    The ultimate recompense is looking directly into the eyes of the Belovèd. This visual connection symbolizes complete understanding and divine realization. The face reflects the deep joy of absolute fulfillment.

    In my earlier essays on Dickinsonian poems, I have discussed the speaker’s relentless search for face-to-face divine encounter. This rewarding vision requires absolute dedication during long periods of trial. Creative focus empowers this deep meditation.

    The labor of tunneling mirrors the rigorous path of self-realization. Paramahansa Yogananda explains that steady scientific effort reveals the hidden divine presence within all creation. The soul must pierce the rock of material delusion.

    The meeting of the two grooves represents perfect attunement. The speaker values this direct contact above all worldly comfort. Looking into those Divine eyes satisfies the eternal longing of the heart.

    Third Stanza: “But ’tis a single Hair –”

    But ’tis a single Hair –
    A filament – a law –
    A Cobweb – wove in Adamant –
    A Battlement – of Straw –

    The tone shifts dramatically with the introduction of the word “but.” The speaker realizes that the true barrier is not physical rock. Instead, an incredibly thin obstruction creates the terrifying separation.

    A single hair or filament represents an almost invisible boundary. This microscopic limit proves more frustrating than a massive mountain range. Its subtle nature complicates the speaker’s intense desire for unity.

    The barrier is described as a binding cosmic law. This structural rule governs the separation between human consciousness and divine reality. The soul finds itself bound by invisible threads of existence.

    A cobweb woven in adamant presents a striking poetic paradox. The obstruction appears fragile yet remains completely unbreakable by human force. This delicate net resists the speaker’s most powerful assaults.

    The battlement of straw reinforces this theme of deceptive strength. Weak materials form an impenetrable defense against the seeking soul. This complex imagery demands deep and careful contemplative musing leading to true meditation.

    In my earlier essays on Dickinsonian poems, I have discussed the fragile structures that often hold immense metaphysical power. The speaker feels trapped by these subtle webs of cosmic law. Ordinary human effort fails against these boundaries.  This deceptive cosmic illusion mirrors the classic concept of cosmic delusion or maya. 

    Paramahansa Yogananda explains that the delicate veil of worldly illusion keeps human consciousness from perceiving the underlying Divine Reality. Breaking this web requires higher spiritual attunement.

    Fourth Stanza: “A limit like the Veil”

    A limit like the Veil
    Unto the Lady’s face –
    But every Mesh – a Citadel –
    And Dragons – in the Crease

    The speaker compares the final boundary to a delicate face veil. This feminine image suggests modesty, mystery, and deliberate concealment of truth. Yet this soft limit possesses an astonishingly defensive strength.

    Every single mesh of the veil becomes a powerful citadel. Small spaces transform into heavily fortified military centers of resistance. The speaker faces an army hidden within a delicate textile.

    But terrifying dragons guard the tiny creases of the fabric barrier. These mythical monsters represent psychological fears and cosmic guardians blocking progress. The journey ends not in open space but in narrow folds.

    The presence of dragons emphasizes the immense danger of internal exploration. In my earlier essays on Dickinsonian poems, I have discussed the speaker’s frequent encounters with internal terrors. Overcoming these monsters requires rigorous contemplative musing that leads to meditation.

    The fortified mesh represents the dense nature of worldly consciousness. Paramahansa Yogananda explains that the path to freedom requires conquering the inner psychological dragons of habit and delusion. The seeker must face these inner guards bravely.

    The rime scheme concludes with a powerful emphasis on cosmic confinement. The speaker recognizes that the softest barriers are often the most secure. True liberation demands a complete transformation of the soul’s inner sight.

    Ultimately, the poem exposes the intricate traps of the human mind. The speaker remains separated from the Belovèd by these subtle folds. Only divine intervention can dissolve these final structural creases.

  • Wanderers’ Psalm

    234a Image created by Gemini inspired by the poem.jpeg
    234a Image created by Gemini inspired by the poem

    Wanderers’ Psalm

    A Hymn to America’s 250 Year Anniversary 

    America’s vastness unfolds under our tire tracks.
    Bright neon signs pulse against dusk’s darkening.

    Our restless souls push on into morning’s light,
    Chasing visions woven in the dust of motion.

    No walls cage our spirits’ craving new horizons.
    Tumbleweeds whisper secrets to passing breezes.

    Each mile hums a prayer beneath our steady wheels.
    Each new town transforms itself into our home.

    A scarf of stars drapes the traveler’s neck.
    Love’s luggage shifts softly in a wagon’s trunk.

    Divine murmurs rush from the engine’s drone.
    Silence sings where open plains stretch on and on.

    This country maps our desires in endless sprawl,
    Where every mile holds gratitude for the myriad paths.

  • Edgar Lee Masters’ “Minerva Jones”

    Image:  Edgar Lee Masters -  Alchetron https://alchetron.com/Edgar-Lee-Masters
    Image:  Edgar Lee Masters –  Alchetron

    Edgar Lee Masters’ “Minerva Jones”

    The “Minerva Jones” epitaph features one of the most depraved characters of the Spoon River talking dead. She is self-absorbed and haughty, lacking empathy and self-awareness, causing her to remain ignorant of her own discordant thoughts. 

    Introduction with Text of “Minerva Jones”

    This epitaph “Minerva Jones” is the first in a series of five interrelated epitaphs: “‘Indignation’ Jones,” “Doctor Meyers,” “Mrs. Meyers,” and “‘Butch’ Weldy.” Edgar Lee Masters’ “Minerva Jones” from his American classic, Spoon River Anthology, dramatizes the report of a dense, young woman, who died after undergoing an abortion.

    The issue of forced intercourse drives much of the discussion by casual readers in the interpretation of this epitaph. Minerva does not state directly that Butch Weldy forced himself upon her.

    Instead, she implies that the two were engaged in a relationship prior to her becoming pregnant with Weldy’s child. The issue of rape becomes a tool for rehabilitating Minerva’s character and making her abortion seem less abhorrent.  It needs to be remembered that abortion was illegal during this time period of American history.

    Interestingly, the information revealed by the other characters in his series does not clarify Minerva’s motives.  The character most closely involved with Minerva’s situation is Butch Weldy, and he does not even mention her in his harrowing tale. 

    Mrs. Meyers remarks about her husband Doctor Meyers, who performed Minerva’s abortion procedure, “he was not at fault for Minerva’s fall.”  Mrs. Mayers’ statement indicates that Minerva was, in fact, less than the victim she professes.  It was Minerva’s “fall” even if others were intimately or tangentially involved.

    Minerva Jones

    I am Minerva, the village poetess,  
    Hooted at, jeered at by the Yahoos of the street  
    For my heavy body, cock-eye, and rolling walk,
    And all the more when “Butch” Weldy
    Captured me after a brutal hunt.
    He left me to my fate with Doctor Meyers;
    And I sank into death, growing numb from the feet up,
    Like one stepping deeper and deeper into a stream of ice.
    Will some one go to the village newspaper,
    And gather into a book the verses I wrote?—
    I thirsted so for love!
    I hungered so for life!

    Commentary on “Minerva Jones”

    In this epitaph, Minerva Jones, professing herself to be “the village poetess,” presents herself as a victim of the hooting mobs of the town. But worse for her is that she is also a victim, left alone and pregnant by another Spoon River character “Butch” Weldy.  Still worse is that she finally loses her life after being victimized by a medical procedure performed by another Spoon River character Doctor Meyers.

    First Movement:  Acquainted with Classic Works

    I am Minerva, the village poetess,  
    Hooted at, jeered at by the Yahoos of the street  
    For my heavy body, cock-eye, and rolling walk,
    And all the more when “Butch” Weldy
    Captured me after a brutal hunt.

    Minerva proudly proclaims herself as the poet of Spoon River.  But then she complains that she was jeered at by the townspeople.   Likening the boorish individuals of the village to the Swiftian characters “the Yahoos” in Gulliver’s Travels, Minerva demonstrates that she is, in fact,  acquainted with classic literary works.

    Such knowledge allows her to  deem herself above her fellow citizens of Spoon River, similar to her father “Indignation” Jones. These “Yahoos” taunted poor Minerva because of her huge body, crooked eyes, and abnormal gait.  And these characteristics were only exacerbated by her pregnancy. 

    Minerva then describes her relationship with “Butch” Weldy as a “brutal hunt” after which he “captured” her.   This description indicates that she is attempting to portray herself as a victim, in order to excuse her own deeds:  he hunted her, he captured her.  As a victim, she considers her own deeds not under her control.

    Thus in her own mind, Minerva remains the innocent victim of the brutal man “Butch” Weldy. However, Minerva does not state specifically that Butch forced himself upon her, although she does attempt to imply as much.   Those implications demonstrate that she is now excusing her own behavior—a typical response of many of the Spoon River residents to their own flaws.

    Second Movement:  Abandoned to Her Fate

    He left me to my fate with Doctor Meyers;
    And I sank into death, growing numb from the feet up,
    Like one stepping deeper and deeper into a stream of ice.

    Minerva then states that Butch “left me to my fate with Doctor Meyers.”   By stating that he “left” her, she is implying that they were, in fact, a couple.   It is unlikely that a woman who has been brutally raped would lament being “left” by her rapist.  

    After being abandoned by her baby’s father, Minerva attempts to solve her problem pregnancy by seeking out a doctor who is willing to illegally abort her baby. And sadly the procedure performed by Doctor Meyers results in her death. 

    Third Movement:  No Thought of the New Life

    Will some one go to the village newspaper,
    And gather into a book the verses I wrote?—

    With no thought given to the baby’s death, Minerva’s attention turns to her “verses” which had been published in the “village newspaper.”   She then suggests that some citizen of the town visit the newspaper office to collect her verses and publish them in a book.  

    The selfishness demonstrated by this request should alert readers to the depravity of Minerva’s character.  She gives not a single thought to the baby’s life she has snuffed out. Instead, first decrying her own death, which is certainly understandable, but then her second thought of asking someone to collect and publish her poetry for her shows her heartless, audacious selfishness.

    Fourth Movement:  The Epitome of Irony

    I thirsted so for love!
    I hungered so for life!

    Minerva’s final flourish reveals the epitome of irony:  she “thirsted so for love!”  Might she not have had much love to give and receive from the child she aborted?   She “hungered so for life!”  Not the life that was growing inside her, however.  

    Minerva reveals herself to be one of the most disturbed and duplicitous characters of Spoon River.   After losing her life, Minerva is now asking for someone to collect her verses into a book to demonstrate that what happened to her was a great tragedy because she “thirsted so for love!” and  “hungered so for life!”

    Rehabilitating Minerva Jones’ Character

    In the epitaph, “Minerva Jones,” the issue of forced intercourse drives much of the discussion of the interpretation of this poem.  Minerva does not state directly that Butch attacked her for sex, but rather she implies that the two were engaged in a relationship prior to her becoming pregnant with Weldy’s child.

    By insisting that she was brutally attacked and forcibly coerced, some readers attempt to rehabilitate Minerva’s reputation; according to their logic, if she were attacked and forced, then she would be a faultless victim, and thus her ending her pregnancy would be more easily justified.  

    Even legislation that seeks to end or limit abortion often allows for the procedure in cases of incest and rape.   So it is important to those who wish to support easy access to abortion procedures that the fictional character Minerva Jones remain a victim entitled to the procedure because she was attacked and forced to experience sexual intercourse. 

    But if Minerva and Butch were both willing lovers until the pregnancy ended the relationship, then Minerva’s choosing to abort the “love child” becomes more likely to bring disgrace upon her.   Suffering the inconvenience of pregnancy cannot compare with suffering the victimhood of a forcible attack.

    Finally, Minerva’s exclamatory insistence that she “thirsted so for love!” and “hungered so for life!” ring ironically hollow: she aborted the one individual who could have given her love through the child’s very life.  

    Whether she was attacked and forced or was the willing participant in her relationship with Butch Weldy, she could have had a child to love and nurture.  But her final words demonstrate that she cared more about her published verse than she did for the life that she had carried. Such depravity and selfishness cannot be rehabilitated, despite the attempts by pro-abortionists.

    The Minerva Jones Sequence

    1. Minerva Jones  The “Minerva Jones” epitaph features one of the most depraved characters of the Spoon River talking dead. She is self-absorbed and haughty, lacking empathy and self-awareness, causing her to remain ignorant of her own discordant thoughts. 
    2. “Indignation” Jones  In the second epitaph of the “Minerva” series, the poetess’ father, “Indignation” Jones, fulminates against Spoon River society.
    3. Doctor Meyers The third epitaph in the Minerva Jones series features “Doctor Meyers,” who performed the abortion that led to the death of the unfortunate poetess.
    4. Mrs. Meyers  In the fourth epitaph in this series,”Mrs. Meyers,” Dr. Meyers’ wife testifies that her husband, whom she calls “poor soul,” reaped what he sowed for his actions in life. The religious woman offers advice for a pleasant and peaceful life, reminding humanity to “Love God and keep his commandments.”
    5. “Butch” Weldy  The fifth and final epitaph “‘Butch’ Weldy” concludes the “Minerva Jones” series. Butch declaims about his ordeal after a work related accident—with nary a nod to Minerva.

  • Proof That He Loves

    233a Image created by Grok inspired by the poem
    Image created by Grok inspired by the poem

    Proof That He Loves

    When gentle rain upon my cheek does fall
    And sunshine rests its warmth upon my hand,
    I feel His divine grace in nature’s tender call
    In flowers blooming at His sweet command.

    The birds that chant the songs of springtime cheer
    Sing psalms composed by heaven’s loving will—
    Each note, each petal whispers, “He is near”
    Then bids my restless soul be calm and still.

    In silent prayer, my heart begins to glide
    And peace forms like the dew on thirsty land.
    His love flows in with silence as its guide
    More certain than words or signs I understand:

    Through every gift, both known and mystery
    I know, my Lord—I know—my Lord loves me.

  • Edgar Lee Masters’ “Benjamin Fraser”

    Image: Edgar Lee Masters, Esq. https://librarycollections.law.umn.edu/darrow/trials_details.php?id=4 Clarence Darrow Law Library
    Image: Edgar Lee Masters, Esq. Clarence Darrow Law Library

    Edgar Lee Masters’ “Benjamin Fraser”

    In the epitaph titled “Benjamin Fraser” from Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, the serial rapist/murderer is dramatizing his unsavory character.

    Introduction and Text of “Benjamin Fraser”

    Edgar Lee Masters has explained that “The Spooniad” is a mock heroic after Alexander Pope’s “The Dunciad.”  The Spooniad offers commentary on each of the Spoon River speakers who hold forth in Spoon River Anthology.

    From “The Spooniad” the reader learns that “Benjamin Fraser” was the “son of Benjamin Pantier / By Daisy Fraser,” which resulted in a lethal combination: the Pantiers’ dysfunctional relationship motivated Benjamin Pantier’s bedding the prostitute, Daisy Fraser, who gave birth to the criminally insane Benjamin Fraser.  (See the Pantier sequence beginning with “Benjamin Pantier” and “Mrs. Benjamin Pantier.” )

    Benjamin Fraser

    Their spirits beat upon mine
     Like the wings of a thousand butterflies.
    I closed my eyes and felt their spirits vibrating.
    I closed my eyes, yet I knew when their lashes 
    Fringed their cheeks from downcast eyes,
    And when they turned their heads;
    And when their garments clung to them, 
    Or fell from them, in exquisite draperies. 
    Their spirits watched my ecstasy 
    With wide looks at starry unconcern.
    Their spirits looked upon my torture; 
    They drank it as it were the water of life; 
    With reddened cheeks, brightened eyes 
    The rising flame of my soul made their spirits gilt, 
    Like the wings of a butterfly drifting suddenly into sunlight.
    And they cried to me for life, life, life. 
    But in taking life for myself, 
    In seizing and crushing their souls, 
    As a child crushes grapes and drinks 
    From its palms the purple juice,
    I came to this wingless void,
    Where neither red, nor gold, nor wine, 
    Nor the rhythm of life is known.

    Interpretive Reading of Benjamin Fraser

    Commentary on “Benjamin Fraser”

    The epitaph“Benjamin Fraser” from Masters’ Spoon River Anthology allows the serial rapist/murderer to dramatize his unsavory character.

    First Movement:   Twisted Imagination

    Their spirits beat upon mine
     Like the wings of a thousand butterflies.
    I closed my eyes and felt their spirits vibrating.
    I closed my eyes, yet I knew when their lashes 
    Fringed their cheeks from downcast eyes,
    And when they turned their heads;
    And when their garments clung to them, 
    Or fell from them, in exquisite draperies. 

    Benjamin Fraser reports that as he murdered and raped his victims their spirits were like butterflies.  Fraser enjoyed the acts of rape and murder intensely and considered the struggle for life of the victims as a play of souls. 

    Fraser’s victims’ souls leaving their bodies made the insane criminal think of them as the “wings of a thousand butterflies.”  He reports that he “closed his eyes and felt their spirits vibrating.”  

    And even with closed eyes, he knew they were frantically flailing about as “their lashes / Fringed their cheeks from downcast eyes.”  As their heads thrashed from side to side, he could sense that their clothes sometimes “clung to them” and at other times “fell from them, in exquisite draperies.”   In Fraser’s twisted imagination, his act becomes decorated in finery, instead of human despair and blood.

    Second Movement:   Appalling Acts

    Their spirits looked upon my torture; 
    They drank it as it were the water of life; 
    With reddened cheeks, brightened eyes 
    The rising flame of my soul made their spirits gilt, 
    Like the wings of a butterfly drifting suddenly into sunlight.
    And they cried to me for life, life, life. 

    The souls of these women “watched my ecstasy”; he imagines that his victims can discern the joy this perverted individual is experiencing as he rapes and kills them.  He lessens their agony in his own mind by calling their looks “starry unconcern.”  As he admits to torturing them, he converts their response to drinking “the water of life.”

    Fraser describes the face of his victim as he squeezes the life out of her: she has “reddened cheeks, brightened eyes”—those eyes would be filled with terror, but he perceives a different image; he visualizes, “The rising flame of my soul made their spirits gilt.”  His appalling act causes their souls to look all golden and again reminds him of butterflies “drifting suddenly into the sunlight.”  All the while, they are pleading “to me for life, life, life.”

    Third Movement:   A Loathsome Criminal

    But in taking life for myself, 
    In seizing and crushing their souls, 
    As a child crushes grapes and drinks 
    From its palms the purple juice,
    I came to this wingless void,
    Where neither red, nor gold, nor wine, 
    Nor the rhythm of life is known.

    Fraser becomes very vivid as he describes his act of strangulation; he asserts that he crushes their souls—he seizes and crushes them, likening his despicable act to a child smashing grapes to drink the fruit juice from the palm of his hand.

    The rapist/murderer cannot bring himself to confess that he is, in fact, squeezing the life out a human being’s physical body.  He does not accept his victim as a human being with personhood. To him they are just disembodied “spirits” that are ripe for his taking, seizing, and crushing.

    Benjamin Fraser’s final admission that through taking these lives, he has arrived at his present destination that he describes as a “wingless void,” a place where “neither red, nor gold, nor wine, / Nor the rhythm of life is known,” and he remains as detached as his conscience remained as he committed his loathsome crimes.

  • Maya Shedd’s Song of the Rockies

    Image created by Grok inspired by the poem
    Image created by Grok inspired by the poem

    Maya Shedd’s Song of the Rockies

    Upon the Rockies so high where eagles soar
    The city of Denver perched a mile above the land
    Maya Shedd wakes from slumber’s gentle door
    To greet the sun that warms the snow and sand

    The winter’s chill begins to melt away
    As spring’s warm breath revives the earth once more
    Her voice rises to greet the newborn day
    Singing songs that mountains long adore

    Awake, Maya Shedd, lift your heart and sing
    For nature’s melody calls you to the sky
    With every note new hope and joy you bring
    Beneath the vast and ever-watchful Eye

    In Rockies high where dreams and songs entwine
    Maya Shedd’s voice forever comes to shine

    For an explanation and meaning of “Maya Shedd,” please visit “Maya Shedd’s Temple.”

  • Edgar Lee Masters’ “Daisy Fraser” 

    Image: Edgar Lee Masters https://chicagoliteraryhof.org/inductees/profile/edgar-lee-masters
    Image: Edgar Lee Masters – Chicago Literary Hall of Fame

    Edgar Lee Masters’ “Daisy Fraser” 

    In Edgar Lee Masters’  epitaph “Daisy Fraser,” the villainous character of “Daisy Fraser” is revealed as she tries to destroy the reputations of other residents of Spoon River.

    Introduction and Text of “Daisy Fraser”

    The character “Daisy Fraser” from Edgar Lee Masters’ American classic work Spoon River Anthology reports the immoral and illegal acts of her fellow Spoon River citizens solely for the purpose of rehabilitating her own reputation for villainy.  Readers will note her scheme of employing gossipy questions to unleash her venom.

    Daisy Fraser

    Did you ever hear of Editor Whedon
    Giving to the public treasury any of the money he received
    For supporting candidates for office?
    Or for writing up the canning factory
    To get people to invest?
    Or for suppressing the facts about the bank, 
    When it was rotten and ready to break?
    Did you ever hear of the Circuit Judge
    Helping anyone except the “Q” railroad, 
    Or the bankers? Or did Rev. Peet or Rev. Sibley
    Give any part of their salary, earned by keeping still, 
    Or speaking out as the leaders wished them to do, 
    To the building of the water works? 
    But I—Daisy Fraser who always passed 
    Along the streets through rows of nods and smiles,
    And coughs and words such as “there she goes,”
    Never was taken before Justice Arnett 
    Without contributing ten dollars and costs 
    To the school fund of Spoon River!

    Commentary on “Daisy Fraser”

    Likely a prostitute, Daisy Fraser’s nasty character comes to light as she trashes the reputations of other residents of Spoon River.

    First Movement:  Political Improprieties

    Did you ever hear of Editor Whedon
    Giving to the public treasury any of the money he received
    For supporting candidates for office?

    The speaker begins with a question that implicates “Editor Whedon” in political improprieties, that is, taking money for “supporting candidates for office.”  But the speaker wants to know if the editor ever gave that money to the “public treasury.”

    Of course, her rhetorical question is implying that he, in fact, did not. And she continues her questioning filled with further implications of political shenanigans.  The fact that she is choosing easy targets should alert the reader early on regarding what is happening in Daisy’s mind.

    Second Movement:   Kickbacks

    Or for writing up the canning factory
    To get people to invest?
    Or for suppressing the facts about the bank, 
    When it was rotten and ready to break?

    In the second movement, Daisy continues her rhetorical queries, wondering if the illegal funds from the canning factory were given to the public treasury.  Again, she is suggesting that the money was used by the editor for lining his own pocket.  The editor also received kickbacks for hiding the financial condition of the bank, when it was on the verge of folding.

    The editor of the newspaper should have been revealing these unsavory facts about these institutions, but instead, he took money and kept quiet, if the reader believes as Daisy does.  Daisy wants to demonstrate that she is decrying that fact that freedom of the press can be abused.

    Third Movement:   A Judge on the Take

    Did you ever hear of the Circuit Judge
    Helping anyone except the “Q” railroad, 
    Or the bankers? Or did Rev. Peet or Rev. Sibley
    Give any part of their salary, earned by keeping still, 
    Or speaking out as the leaders wished them to do, 
    To the building of the water works? 

    The third movement contains two movements that are blended.  The first part features the rhetorical question, asking if her listeners ever knew of the “Circuit Judge” giving aid to ordinary citizens instead of the “Q” railroad and bankers. Daisy now focuses on a judicial officer who blinks when influential parties commit illegal acts.

    The accusation again includes the implication that like the editor, the judge is also on the take.  But then she immediately focuses on the religious establishment by again questioning whether the reverends Peet and Sibley had ever contributed to the public works, that is, “water works,” any of the money they received by keeping quiet about the graft.  

    Not only was the press corrupt but the legal and religious institutions were rife with corruption as well, and of course with a press acquiescing instead of revealing the face of that corruption, the corruption is likely not only to continue but to spread.

    Fourth Movement:   Unreliable Witness

    But I—Daisy Fraser who always passed 
    Along the streets through rows of nods and smiles,
    And coughs and words such as “there she goes,”
    Never was taken before Justice Arnett 
    Without contributing ten dollars and costs 
    To the school fund of Spoon River!

    In the final movement, all of Daisy’s implied accusations take a tumble.  When Daisy Fraser appeared before Justice Arnett, she always had to pay up, “contributing ten dollars and costs / To the school fund of Spoon River!”

    Daisy reveals, if only by implication, her own misdeeds.  She bristled under the “nods and smiles” and “coughs and words such as ‘there she goes’.”  She would observe people’s reaction to her as she walked down the streets, and she keenly resented them for those responses.  

    So she attempts to make herself seem better by blackening the reputations of others; therefore, whether all of that graft took place or not, the reader does not know, because Daisy has proven herself an unreliable witness.

  • Pilgrimage with My Lord

    213a Image created by ChatGPT inspired by the poem
    213a Image created by ChatGPT inspired by the poem

    Pilgrimage with My Lord

    When dawn’s soft light awakens me anew,
    I rise and thank Him for His gentle grace,
    The gift of life, His love in every place,
    A song of joy in all I think and do.
    Anticipation stirs as morning’s hue
    Invites my soul to seek His warm embrace,
    To walk beside Him, keeping steady pace,
    Along the road where hope is ever true.

    Though daily cares may swirl and rush around,
    His presence lingers while I work and sing;
    With grateful heart, my spirit feels unbound,
    I lace my shoes and let my praises ring.

    At night, within His love, my soul is found—
    Yet still I walk with Him, my Lord, my King.

  • Edgar Lee Masters’  “Trainor, the Druggist”

    Image:  Edgar Lee Masters -  Alchetron https://alchetron.com/Edgar-Lee-Masters
    Image:  Edgar Lee Masters –  Alchetron

    Edgar Lee Master’  “Trainor, the Druggist”

    Trainor, the Druggist, offers an additional perspective on the Pantier marriage.

    Introduction and Text of “Trainor, the Druggist”

    Edgar Lee Masters’ “Trainor, the Druggist” from Spoon River Anthology offers a final installment covering the pitiful story of the Pantiers:  Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Pantier and their son, Reuben. 

    Trainor, the chemist/druggist, dramatizes his take on the Pantiers’ marriage as he philosophizes about how chemicals and personalities may combine to produce results unlike either of the components.

    Trainor, the Druggist

    Only the chemist can tell, and not always the chemist,
    What will result from compounding
    Fluids or solids.
    And who can tell
    How men and women will interact
    On each other, or what children will result?
    There were Benjamin Pantier and his wife,
    Good in themselves, but evil toward each other:
    He oxygen, she hydrogen,
    Their son, a devastating fire.
    I Trainor, the druggist, a mixer of chemicals,
    Killed while making an experiment,
    Lived unwedded.

    Interpretive Reading of “Trainor the Druggist” 

    Commentary on “Trainor, the Druggist”

    Edgar Lee Masters just could not let go of the Pantiers; in “Trainor, the Druggist,” yet another and final installment focusing on the couple is offered.

    First Movement:  Begins by Contradicting Himself

    Only the chemist can tell, and not always the chemist,
    What will result from compounding
    Fluids or solids.

    Trainor begins by remarking and somewhat contradicting himself about what a chemist can know.  He first states that “only” a chemist can know the results of combining certain substances, but he quickly adds that not even a chemist can “always” know the result of “compounding / Fluids and solids.”

    By using the substances “fluids and solids,” Trainor avoids sounding overly esoteric and confusing in his statement, although later he settles on the use of “oxygen” and “hydrogen” to express the natures of the Pantiers.

    Second Movement:  Who?  Indeed!

    And who can tell
    How men and women will interact
    On each other, or what children will result?

    Trainor then asks a rhetorical question, wondering who can ever predict how a certain man and a certain woman might react to their relationship.  He also wonders, “what children will result?”

    Of course, no one can know how any given couple will eventually grow in a relationship, and the possibilities are endless, as are the possibilities of the kinds of children that might spring from any given relationship.  The chemist can know how certain chemicals will react with each, but even the chemist will have to admit that many combinations have yet to be tried.

    Third Movement:  The Pantiers

    There were Benjamin Pantier and his wife,
    Good in themselves, but evil toward each other:
    He oxygen, she hydrogen,
    Their son, a devastating fire.

    In the third movement, Trainor focuses on the Pantiers, concluding that each was “good in themselves.”  But when they were bound in a relationship, they were “evil toward each other.”

    Trainor then likens Benjamin to “oxygen,” while Mrs. Benjamin was like “hydrogen.”  But the combination was, unfortunately, not in a useful proportion that would result, for example, in water; it was some combination that produces “fire.”  Trainor says, “Their son, a devastating fire.”

    Fourth Movement:  Trainor, Somewhat Ditzy

    I Trainor, the druggist, a mixer of chemicals,
    Killed while making an experiment,
    Lived unwedded.

    In the final movement, the reader learns that Trainor was killed while “making an experiment.”  As a “mixer of chemicals,” Trainor turns out to be incompetent, but he reports that he “lived unwedded,” which, to Trainor’s way of thinking, gives him at least a measure of pride of achievement.

    Of course, the reader will remember that Reuben Pantier turned his life around and was able to extinguish the “devastating fire” in himself—an eventuality that also underscores the incompetence of the druggist.

    The Pantier Sequence

    The five epigraphs that comprise the “Pantier Sequence”: 

    1.  Benjamin Pantier  A husband who appears to be weakling allowing himself to be cowed by his wife, an arrogant bully.
    2. Mrs. Benjamin Pantier  Unbridled arrogance, overweening vanity along with cowardly weakness have combined to bring about the destruction of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Pantier.
    3. Reuben Pantier  Reuben Pantier’s colorful character helps dramatize the power of spiritual love for healing the mind, heart, and soul, even through the distance of miles and decades.  Reuben is the son of the dysfunctional couple Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Pantier.
    4. Emily Sparks  The epitaph is the fourth entry in the sequence of five epitaphs featuring a dysfunctional couple, their son, and the latter’s influential mentor.
    5.  Trainor, the Druggist  This epitaph offers a final installment covering the pitiful story of the Pantiers:  Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Pantier and their son Reuben.

  • The Crown of Spirit

    Image created by Grok inspired by the poem
    Image created by Grok inspired by the poem

    The Crown of Spirit

    He wove her name by fate,
    Thunder stirred her blood:
    She would ride to him yet
    But her hand was stilled.

    Her gaze drove back mist
    From hours of waiting,
    Drawn by his unspoken promise—
    A whisper of a dream, a storm.

    Winter would teach the rite
    That cobbles the boot of memory.
    A soul in silence will grow wings,
    And the heart will forge arrows.

    You have shattered my night into silver
    With the crown of spirit that You
    Planted on my brow along with murmurs
    From every ancient vow.

    You have thundered on chariots of foam,
    Rising from the froth of the ocean,
    Sweeping past the ruins of time
    Twined in the gardens of the abyss.

    You have awakened my legend,
    My sleeping name, through the roaring
    Of Your every hidden trumpet
    Sounding from caves of endless birth.

    O Ancient King, deliver me to the crown
    Of Your Spirit where breath and blaze
    Quicken the bones sleeping in the vault
    Of a planet cradled in riddle and roar.