Decades ago I found this story among those collected by William Butler Yeats.  I always felt that highly educated men needed to hear it and learn something. In 2012 I told it at the Minnesota Men's Conference Winter gathering, Into the Belly of Ice and Snow.  Ten years later I told it to two men's gatherings, the Australian group, The Fifth Direction, and the Minnesota group, The Folktale Gardening Club.

On October 29, 2022 the Como Cottage Salon Series featured a poetry scrum with poets Thomas R. Smith, Michael Moos, James Lenfestey, and Timothy Young.  A poetry scrum is our way of describing a poetry reading where the poets take turns choosing a one of their poems to read, inspired by a word, a theme, an action, or rhythm in the poem the previous poet read. One after another the series of poems take on a life of its own and everyone is surprised. 

There is a deep yearning for communal feelings in our digital age. There is a deep grief at its loss.  In my ruminations on the 2024 presidential election, I see that yearning across all divisions and divides. Individualism as a cultural concept has led to this.

Juan Ramon Jimenez admired Walt Whitman as a truly aristocratic man.  At the 40th anniversary of the Minnesota Men's Conference, I present this essay about the type of man I believe should be considered an Aristocrat.

My violinist wife, Dalyce Elliott Young composed and performed five small vignettes to play when she read the Beatrix Potter's tales, Squirrel Nutkin, Benjamin Bunny, Two Bad Mice, Tom Kitten, and Flopsy Bunnies to children at storytelling events near our home. 

In 2001 a collection of poets was featured in the book, Poetry Speaks.  Three CDs were included, and I have a few here for your listening, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Robinson Jeffers, William Stafford, Etheridge Knight, W.B. Yeats, and Walt Whitman. 

Timothy Young presented a number of aphorisms and quotes by various poets and authors at the 2024 Minnesota Men's Winter Conference, Utter Darkness/Shining Brow on February 3, 2024.  Let them fall like birch leaves dropping from the tree on an autumn morning.

This election year I revisit the prefaces from my 1984 chapbook, Meen Don't Dance in America, and the 1985 chapbook, Fairyland After Carnival. I also include my 2016 poem, Trump Never Laughs, recorded at Como Cottage in January 2017.
It is important to acknowledge the darker material of our culture and work toward the more joyous aspects of life.

I have worked with Dan Cavanagh for over twenty years.  He has many award-winning compositions and is currently the Music Director at the Mead-Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He is also my nephew.
The Jazz Ecstatic featured my poetry with Dan's original compositions and included Tim Ishii, saxophones, Jaime Reyes, drums, and Lou Carfa, bass, and Dan on piano,.

During the 'shelter in place' times during the Covid 19 pandemic, my good friend Dave Ballman took six of my small poems and turned them into songs.  He then recorded them. I am honored to have his artistry merging with mine and now I get to share them with you.