Lucky Words

Happy Easter, everyone! For this Sabbath holiday I've chosen a holy sonnet by John Donne. This poem is about Jesus' second coming rather than his atoning sacrifice, so I guess it's not a perfect Easter poem, but it's still pretty close. It's in the right ballpark. This is recorded while sitting on a tree over a stream, and there's a lot of water noise in the background. It might not make great aud...

It's a little weird for me to read this poem about race and America, but that's not stopping me. Just a short episode today, recorded on the Curley Springs trail. Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Longest episode yet, but in part because it's a longish poem. And I barely scratch the surface here. We could easily spend an hour on this one alone and just start digging in. But you don't need that much time to start to appreciate it. And on a lovely Good Friday, you'll be a better person after reading this poem. Recorded while hiking up Dry Canyon, above Lindon, Utah. Get full access to Lucky W...

You could stop listening at 4:45 if you want just the standard experience, or you can keep listening beyond for a special bonus (*bonus!*) story that kinda-sorta-almost relates to the poem. It's a personal story, and it makes me laugh, but no guarantees that it'll have the same effect on you. I'd be curious: do you have any good fruit-related stories to share? Visit luckywords.squarespace.com and...

Recorded while I was unwilling to hike any further up the snowcovered and avalanche-prone Mount Timpanogos. I love the trail, but I don't want to get caught in a avalanche, and I've seen them from too close up there in the past. So I recorded this podcast about a great modernist poem. Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded while hiking up the Squaw Peak trail again, in a spot with lots of wind and hence the distracting and omnipresent wind noise. Still, an awesome poem that you probably haven't head before because it's a translation from a fragment of an Old English (Anglo-Saxon) manuscript. Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded while hiking through the snow on the Stewart Falls trail above Sundance. It's technically the Stewart Cascade trail, but no one around here calls it that. It's just Stewart Falls. I didn't make it too the falls, however: too much snow and too little trail. But it was still a nice hike. Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded on a trail from the Squaw Peak Lookout, I was at an elevation of about 7200, just over 2000 feet above my house. Not recorded on a Sunday, because, unlike Emily Dickinson, I do keep my Sabbath by going to church. But I like her sentiment. Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Kind of a longer poem today, and recorded indoors--or rather, in car, trying to get out of the wind enough to make myself audible. I was birding at the Provo Airport Dike, which is one of the best spots around here for waterbirds (and other birds as well, of course). Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded while hiking, which explains but does not justify the noise of the wind, stream, footsteps, and worst of all, my heavy breathing. But the poem is beautiful, and the background noise might help you intuit the setting I recorded in, which is about as beautiful as it gets. It is, in fact, up South Fork in Provo Canyon, on my way to the Cascade Saddle (among other places). Get full access to...

Recorded during a pause while fishing on the lower Provo River, just a couple of miles up the canyon from my house. I had a #14 Elk Hair Caddis fly on about four feet of tippet at the end of a 12' Tenkara rod. Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 105-Shelley's "Ozymandias" Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded at the Indian Road trailhead, which leads to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. I was in the car for this recording, because I wasn't sure about my outdoors setup. Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded while hiking on a section of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, part way up Provo Canyon. There's some wind and I have to breathe heavy because, well, I'm hiking at an elevation that looks down on Denver by 1000 feet. Except Denver is eight hours away. I'm also 1000 feet higher than Salt Lake or my beloved Provo, but they don't claim to be "Mile High." Get full access to Lucky Words at lucky...

101: Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe

Discussion on John Milton's poem, "When I consider how my light is spent" Get full access to Lucky Words at luckywords.substack.com/subscribe