Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either.
quote by Gore Vidal
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Ballade Of The Average Reader
I try to touch the public taste,
For thus I earn my daily bread.
I try to write what folks will paste
In scrap books after I am dead.
By Public Craving I am led.
(I' sooth, a most despotic leader)
Yet, though I write for Tom and Ned,
I've never seen an average reader.
The Editor is good and chaste,
But says: (Above the public's head;
This is _too_ good; 'twill go to waste.
Write something commonplacer-
Ed.)
Write for the average reader, fed
By pre-digested near-food's feeder,
But though my high ideals have fled,
I've never _seen_ an average reader.
How many lines have been erased!
How many fancies have been shed!
How many failures might be traced
To this-this average-reader dread!
I've seen an average single bed;
I've seen an average garden-weeder;
I've seen an average cotton thread-
I've _never_ seen an average _reader_.
L'ENVOI
Most read of readers, if you've read
The works of any old succeeder,
You know that he, too, must have said:
'I've never seen an Average Reader.'
poem by Franklin P. Adams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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There needs to be a planned series of speeches, interviews, etc., over the next two or three months by administration officials and other public figures talking about President Ford, what he is trying to do and what he has accomplished.
quote by Robert Teeter
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It would be unthinkable in Canadian public life today for the public inauguration of our supreme political figures to be accompanied by prayer.
quote by Stockwell Day
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship, to the reality, the hard substance of things. And we'll do it not so much with speeches that sound good as with speeches that are good and sound; not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that will bring people to their senses.
quote by Mario Cuomo
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Speeches of Happiness
Such happiness happens when we are cruel,
Then people congregate to sin and sigh,
Signals are in science, scientific people sign us
With formulae too sincere, theirs is the cure.
One doctor ships a solution to be received
By another professor, whose books read as
Speeches of some happiness, innocence lives.
Begin to touch the paint of a wall,
This needs to be cleaned from the hands,
And so the professor must read his speeches
For they need cleaning.
Happy work needs revision to be included
In the next sector of the spiritual heaven.
A plane of material existence shelters me,
And the space of this cloud and universe shakes.
poem by Naveed Akram
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I knew I would read all kinds of books and try to get at what it is that makes good writers good. But I made no promises that I would write books a lot of people would like to read.
quote by Carl Sandburg
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Focus in on the genre you want to write, and read books in that genre. A LOT of books by a variety of authors. And read with questions in your mind.
quote by Nicholas Sparks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I remember being in the public library and my jaw just aching as I looked around at all those books I wanted to read. There just wasn't time enough to read everything I wanted to read.
quote by Charles Kuralt
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On Books
Books are my first love, I’m so proud to read;
They give me knowledge and help life to lead;
Hours, days just pass by, by reading life-time;
Life would not be worth, if not for my rhyme.
Great are those people who write books all life;
Burning just candles, with Goose-quills in strife;
Tired of writing though day-long or night,
They keep on writing in such a bad light.
Books serve a great cause; their value can’t cease;
It takes years to write but reading is ease;
Book-makers struggle to print a few books;
And keep spending time to, improve their looks.
Some find their way to libraries in town;
Some remain untouched and nev’r taken down;
Silver-fish, Moths eat the books that are old;
Some are gone obsolete, some sold like gold.
Some are in tatters and must be rebound;
Books are Man’s best friends where solace is found;
Reading for long hours, does help you to learn;
Books give much knowledge and wisdom to men.
Read books with great care whose weight is in gold;
Serve generations though they may be old;
Source of much Info, deserving respect;
Books are life-partners whom you ne’er reject!
poem by John Celes
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My Moonlight Gone Away
A lightning strike
So quick and true
That lightning strike
Hit me with you
The way you were so close
Now so far away
The way we were, almost
No longer here today
Why do you flee so quickly
So desperately away
When I whisper to you so softly
Won't you please stay
The sun no longer shines
The moonlight you were so faded
I begin to read between the lines
Dreams I had sedated
The music I hear at night
Is now more sad then ever
And though try as I might
My thoughts wonder never
From the glory of your face
Beaming up at me
The way your lips taste
A wondrous thing to me
But once again your gone
To far for truce
To far along
But I tighten this noose
I know what my fate holds
Without you my dear
The beauty I once told
Turned to naught but tears
I used to write you poetry
So I write you once again
Though there's no hope left in me
Only wicked dreams of the horrors of men
The cruel tricks been played on me
The world around to far away
The world that made you to blind to see
When I begged you to stay
This bed now grown cold
Beside me you no longer lay
Though 'take heart' I have been told
I shall use my noose today.
poem by John Dillenger II
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Most books today seemed to have been written overnight from books read the day before.
quote by Nicolas de Chamfort
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Most of today's books have an air of having been written in one day from books read the night before.
quote by Chamfort
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Write Me A Letter
Write me a letter
Write me a letter
Write it today
Im goin away (yes it has)
Write me a letter
Write me a letter
Write it today
Im goin away (yes it is)
Well Ive been away forever
Suicides crossin my mind
Well Ill never, never get so far behind
I said, the ways of the night are evil
Without that lord of day
But Ill never, never get so far away
I said write me
Write me
Write me
Write me
I said write me
Write me
Write me
Well theres nothin I can see
Thatd ever make me
Want to be without her
Shes good, she good to me
Said theres no way to explain
The kind of feelin that you get out in the
She good, she good to me
She good, she good to me
I love her
Write me a letter
Write me a letter
Write it today
Im goin away (yes it has)
Write me a letter
Write me a letter
Write it today
Im goin away (yes it is)
Well Ive been away forever
Suicides crossin my mind
Well Ill never, never get so far behind
Well Ive been so many places
Hidin from the wind and the rain
But you could write me a letter
For to save me from goin insane
Write me
Excite me
Write me
Write me
Write me
Write me...
song performed by by Aerosmith
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skulls, then why do we read it Good God, we also would be happy if we had no books and such books that make us happy we could, if need be, write ourselves. What we must have are those books that come on us like ill fortune, like the death of one we love better than ourselves, like suicide. A book must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us.
quote by Franz Kafka
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship, to the reality, the hard substance of things. And we'll do it ... not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that bring people to their senses.
quote by Mario Cuomo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship, to the reality, the hard substance of things. And we'll do it not so much with speeches that will bring people to their feet as with speeches that bring people to their senses.
quote by Mario Cuomo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sonnet For Homework
Okay, sonnet for homework.
I'm in the library, ready to write.
My notebook thick, pen poised to write on it.
My mind open, ready to get it right.
My view? The sky and billowing white clouds,
Tip of trees languidly blowing in the breeze.
I cherish the quiet, the lask of crowds
But the outdoor view is merely a tease.
Surrounded by stacks of books here I sit.
Slight noises of people, paper and books.
A constant motor's hum and bit by bit
I write this poem, concerned with how it looks.
Does it make sense, read well, and does it scan?
Or instead, perhaps some trash for the can?
poem by Caitlin losa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Second Hand Books
Books! Books! Books! There are so many different designs.
There are some which, by the author, are personally signed.
Some books have pages with gilt edges, which look all posh.
Some have nice pictures on their covers, which are embossed.
Some books have hard covers, while some have soft.
Some are all dusty, where they’ve been kept in the loft.
Some books have fancy covers; some just have plain.
Some have suffered mishaps, and are now all stained.
Some books are all dog-eared at the corners of their pages.
Some have gone yellow, where they’ve been around ages.
Inside some books, there can be seen a pencilled name;
Someone, who once, on this particular book, had a claim.
Some are obviously well read; their spines are all creased.
From out of a book, amazing adventures can be unleashed.
Some books have pages which are spoiled or a bit torn.
Some have covers which are grubby and look well worn.
Some just have text, while others also include illustrations.
Some are former prize winners; once the toast of the nation.
There are books by famous authors, as well as the lesser known.
Some are former library books which, to the public, were loaned.
There are romances, poetry, classics, sci-fi, humour, and histories;
Gardening, cookery, travel, thrillers, manga, and murder mysteries.
In wooden bookcases, the books are categorised, and are neatly lined.
In a second hand bookshop, you just never know what you may find.
poem by Angela Wybrow
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I never thought I'd be a writer. I never thought I'd be able to read a book, let alone write one. So if books like this inspire kids to write, or even read a whole book, I think it's good.
quote by Don Novello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Wing Pages Of The Butterfly
at the nursery
while people
are at purchase
and at transactions
a blue butterfly
comes by
and opens its pages to me
swift and quick
and it says to me:
'Read! Read!
Read my pages! '
'I can’t read, '
I say,
amused
at this brash butterfly
'Read and write!
Read and write
about me,
and all flitting butterflies
Read
and write, you silly! '
it commands
And so I read
and I copy
and these are the words
the words from those
pages
the butterfly
holds up to me
poem by Raj Arumugam
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