(T.A.E.’s LitBites) – A modern retelling of Henry V by William Shakespeare Alright — fast-forward: Hal, the guy who used to party too hard and ghost responsibility, is now King Henry. He cleaned up his act (kind of), put on the crown, and now everyone expects him to be a full-on leader. But Henry’s got receipts: … Continue reading “Swipe Right for a Crown” – Poetcore Shakespeare: The Bard for Gen Z
T.A.E.’s Book Review – The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays by J.R.R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays is one of those rare critical collections that feels less like a set of lectures than a map of an imagination in action. These essays do not simply explain the author’s literary principles; they enact them. Across questions of language, myth, translation, medieval romance, and … Continue reading T.A.E.’s Book Review – The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays by J.R.R. Tolkien
T.A.E.’s Book Review – Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
Letters from Father Christmas is one of the author’s most delightful and revealing works: a book that looks, at first glance, like a nursery keepsake, but which gradually discloses itself as a miniature epic of invention, affection, and domestic theatre. It is not merely a collection of festive notes; it is a long performance of … Continue reading T.A.E.’s Book Review – Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
T.A.E.’s Book Review – The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion is less a novel than a scripture of imagination: a grave, luminous mythology that seeks not merely to entertain but to explain why beauty is inseparable from loss. Read after The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, it can feel austere, even forbidding at first. Yet that severity is part of its … Continue reading T.A.E.’s Book Review – The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
Revisionist Poetry – “What Sabine Taught Me” – Innocence, Courage, and my Sabine, v.4
At the reptile zoo,my child stood before the pythonsas if she had come to meetsomething ancient and beautiful. Five snakes, coiled and watchful.Five dark ribbons of muscle and scale.I remember how my body tightenedbefore she ever moved. Then the keeper lifted themand laid them across her shoulders,across her arms. Sabine did not flinch. She looked … Continue reading Revisionist Poetry – “What Sabine Taught Me” – Innocence, Courage, and my Sabine, v.4
No Cap, Stay Iconic: A Soft Launch to Immortality (Revisionist Shakespeare – Sonnet 1 for Gen Z)
From hottest looks we low-key want more fire,So beauty’s feed won’t glitch out, fade, or die;But as the main character gets even flyer,Their whole aesthetic low-key starts to fry. But you, too locked in with your own thirst traps,Feed your bright vibe with self-made validation,Creating content droughts from endless claps,Too greedy with your glow for … Continue reading No Cap, Stay Iconic: A Soft Launch to Immortality (Revisionist Shakespeare – Sonnet 1 for Gen Z)
Don’t Let Your Damn Light Die Out (Revisionist Shakespeare – Sonnet 1 for Gen X)
From hottest looks we still expect fresh fire,So beauty’s not some dusty VHS tape;But when the old-school smoke-show starts to tire,Some younger version keeps the whole thing shaped. But you, locked in your own damn head all day,Feeding your ego like it’s bottomless fries,Burning your future for a quick buffet,Too blind to see the world … Continue reading Don’t Let Your Damn Light Die Out (Revisionist Shakespeare – Sonnet 1 for Gen X)
Still Hot, Still Broke, Still Pretending We’ve Got Time (Revisionist Shakespeare – Sonnet 1 for Gen X)
From good-looking people, we expect good-looking kids,so the whole damn show keeps rolling after we’re gone.But when the hottest among us checks out someday,at least there’s a version 2.0 left carrying the torch. But you—totally obsessed with your own damn reflection,feeding your ego like it’s bottomless at happy hour,you burn your own fuel just to … Continue reading Still Hot, Still Broke, Still Pretending We’ve Got Time (Revisionist Shakespeare – Sonnet 1 for Gen X)
T.A.E.’s Book Review – The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is one of the strangest and most revealing corners of this imaginative world: a slim collection that seems, at first glance, to be a set of playful nursery rhymes and folk songs, yet gradually opens into something older, darker, and more elusive. Read casually, it can appear delightfully slight. Read … Continue reading T.A.E.’s Book Review – The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J.R.R. Tolkien
Revisionist Poetry – “A Child Before the Snakes” – Innocence, Courage, and my Sabine, v.3
How proud I was—how deeply, almost painfully proud—to stand beside my childas danger leaned close and found her smiling. At the reptile zooshe faced the pythons,five patient serpents coiled in expectation,their silent gaze fixed on her. I held my breath. But Sabine stood steady,not hardened, not careless,only open to wonder.Then the zookeeper placed them on … Continue reading Revisionist Poetry – “A Child Before the Snakes” – Innocence, Courage, and my Sabine, v.3