Welcome to poet George Bilgere’s online newsletter. Every day George selects a poem by a writer he’s crazy about and he says a few words about why he picked it.

Here’s a poem for today, August 16, 2026

God Bless the Experimental Writers

by Corey Mesler

for David Markson   “One beginning and one ending for a book was a thing I did not agree with.” —Flann O’Brien from At Swim-Two-Birds   God bless the experimental writers. The ones whose work is a little difficult, built of tinkertoys and dada, or portmanteau and Reich. God help them as they type away, knowing their readers are few, only those who love to toil over an intricate boil of language, who think books are secret codes. These writers will never see their names in Publisher’s Weekly. They will never be on the talk shows. Yet, every day they disappear into their rooms atop their mother’s houses, or their guest houses behind some lawyer’s estate. Every day they tack improbable word onto im- probable word, out of love, children, out of a desire to emend the world.

__________

From Some Identity Problems, FootHills Publishing, 2008, by COREY MESLER.

Photograph: David Markson, whose Wittgenstein’s Mistress was published to critical acclaim in 1988, though the original manuscript was rejected fifty-four times.

Why I Chose This Poem One night a few years ago I attended one of the weekly meetings of the Finnegans Wake book club here in Cleveland Heights. There were eight regular members. A lawyer, a retired history teacher, a newspaper columnist, an actress, a few others. Someone poured a round of Jameson, Joyce’s favorite whiskey, and for the next hour we all puzzled through one single page of the so-called “greatest novel no one has ever read.” The novel is over 600 pages long. The group had been meeting for three years and they were only on page 85. At the end of our discussion nobody had understood a word of what was read or said. We hailed the book as a work of genius and poured ourselves another Jameson.

‘Caligula making his horse a senator'

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-to-order-redesign-of-aircraft-carriers-because-they-dont-look-right

You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly, the little experiences that you might tell at dinner. This is especially true when you begin to write, when you have not yet developed the tricks of interesting people on paper, when you have none of the technique which it takes time to learn. When, in short, you have only your emotions to sell.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

Two Dreams

I dreamed I was in New York City and I left my shoes at my previous appointment so I was heading back through Times Square to get them. 

Dreaming of losing your shoes often symbolizes a deep sense of vulnerability, instability, or feeling unprepared in your waking life. Because shoes protect our feet and carry us forward, losing them frequently points to anxiety about your current life path, a missed opportunity, or a lost sense of direction.

 ***

I dreamed I was walking through Times Square in New York City and someone complimented me on my  great legs. "I am a swimmer!" I said and kept walking. 

 Dreaming of your legs being admired generally symbolizes confidence, self-worth, and how you present yourself to the world. Legs in dreams represent your foundation, your life's journey, and your ability to stand strong. Having them admired points to a desire for validation or pride in your personal progress. 

A 5 pound bag of Russet Potatoes

Boil of russet potatoes  in a pot of cold water or (using steamer rack and some water in a pressure cooker) keep their skins on. Then either mash them while they are warm and season or let cool and cube and then season. You can add add mayo, mustard, pickle, scallions or red onions, Italian wine vinegar pepper and salt. Or oil and vinegar and favorite herbs and spices. Simply divine.

Theo Stuart, Dog Behaviourist

My love for dogs started many years ago with a Rottweiler called Merlin and Magic, a German Shepherd. Back then, it was all about harsh dog training and ‘correcting’ the dog in order to force it to ‘obey’. Commands were sergeant major-style orders.

How different things are today. With all my subsequent learning and experience, I have proved beyond possible doubt that kind, positive, and force-free methods not only work best, but they ensure we feel comfortable in our relationship with our dog.

I have two dogs now. A recently adopted ex-racing Greyhound and an elderly blind and deaf Labrador. I can’t imagine a life without dogs.

My Dog Behaviour CV

• As an older person. Experience & Empathy from a whole kaleidoscope of life’s ups and downs.
• As a School Teacher. Motivation, Encouragement – and boundaries.
• As a musician. Repetitive practice until I have something note perfect. Persistence and patience.
• As a mother of five children. Insight into ‘parenting’ puppies and dogs.
• As a businesswoman. I have set up and run three businesses. ‘Theo Stewart – Dog Behaviourist’ is a business involving marketing, insurance, accounts, tax, equipment, transport, internet costs, web site and much more.
• As the holder of meetings. A skill carried over into family dog consultations, in person, or online.
• As owner of an introduction agency (before the days of internet dating). Interviewing people whilst putting them at ease; finding out all about them as I now with dogs.
• As a dog owner. Multiple dogs over 55 years.
• As a founder member of INTODogs and member of UK Behaviour and Training Charter, IMDT, VSPDT, graduate of ISCP (International School for Canine Psychology and Behaviour), PPG, Dog Welfare Alliance. Using positive methods backed by Science. Accountable.
• As a ‘crossover’. I followed outdated dominance methods before educating myself.

Theo Stuart, Dog Behaviourist https://www.dogidog.co.uk/#aboutme

What Kind of Family are You?

All families are bureaucracies. If your family were a country, would you call it a democracy? A Dictatorship? We demand transparency, accountability and good governance from our leaders—but what happens inside our own homes? If the family is the first institution we belong to, are our homes truly democratic? Who makes the decisions? Who controls the money? Who gets heard? And can parents be held accountable when they get it wrong?

Stone Bunny

Last night we walked Lulu and Romeo on Gaskill street and Lulu abruptly stopped and stared at a stone bunny in someone's front yard. "That's a stone bunny!" I said laughing at Lulu. It's not a real bunny! Then a real bunny jumped out of the bushes from behind it. The joke was on us.

Spinach and Red Onion Delight

Last night we were in the grocery store and the wide egg noodles jumped into my cart. I was longing for a soothing meal. When I got home I boiled the noodles and chopped a large red onion and added it to my wok with five cloves of garlic chopped fine and I sauteed it all in olive oil. Then I added a pound of (defrosted) frozen leaf cut spinach and stirred in the pound of freshly boiled noodles. I topped it off with Asiago cheese grated by hand. It was so good I ate it for breakfast. I said to my husband, This is lasagna in another form! A lighter form! I will do this again and add mushrooms.

When divorce, death, disease, sexual abuse, medical abuse, physical violence, poverty, wealth, drug addiction, alcoholism, fractures a family. The pain and damage runs deep. It takes courage and intelligence to move forward with an open heart. 

To me, Texas signified strange days, querulous wanderings, bloody fairy tales, hot, moon-filled nights, earthworms, and unbought flowers. Texas was women to me: my aunt dying of cancer, my grandmother’s hunchbacked sister, and Eloisa. All laughing, laughing.
― Denise Chávez, The Last of the Menu Girls

“Only farmers and the young, who live dependent upon change, understand what it is to know the continual flowering of life, however subtle.”
― Denise Chávez, The Last of the Menu Girls

“Remember the past, but don't get lost back there. Celebrate the blessings of the past in the present, but remember to live today. Today is built on the past and tomorrow is evolving from both the past and the present. The future? Quien sabe? Hopefully, there will always be tacos”
― Denise Chávez, A Taco Testimony: Meditations on Family, Food and Culture

“Parents often fail to address early childhood lying, since the lying is almost innocent—their child’s too young to know what lies are, or that lying’s wrong. When their child gets older and learns those distinctions, the parents believe, the lying will stop. This is dead wrong, according to Dr. Talwar.”
― Po Bronson, NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children

“siblings between the ages of three and seven clash 3.5 times per hour, on average. Some of those are brief clashes, others longer, but it adds up to ten minutes of every hour spent arguing.”
― Po Bronson, NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children

“It's when children are at their most mysterious that we, their caretakers, can learn something new.”
― Po Bronson / Ashley Merryman

“In taking our marital arguments upstairs to avoid exposing the children to strife, we accidentally deprived them of chances to witness how two people who care about each other can work out their differences in a calm and reasoned way.”
― Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman, NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children

“Might our culture-wide perception of what it means to be a teenager be unwittingly skewed by the fact they don’t get enough sleep?”
― Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman, NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children

“Darling found that permissive parents don’t actually learn more about their child’s lives. “Kids who go wild and get in trouble mostly have parents who don’t set rules or standards. Their parents are loving and accepting no matter what the kids do. But the kids take the lack of rules as a sign their parents don’t actually care—that their parent doesn’t really want this job of being the parent.” ― Po Bronson, NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children

“In one study, Cummings found that children’s emotional well-being and security are more affected by the relationship between the parents than by the direct relationship between the parent and child.”
― Po Bronson, NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children