Sometimes I dream that I’m trying to get to Paris. I’m at the airport but I left my passport at home, and I can’t get a cab to go fetch it, and once I’m home I can’t remember where the passport is, and once I’m back at the airport I’m at the wrong terminal, and … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by E.E. Cummings
I’ll rewrite this whole life and this time there’ll be so much love, / you won’t be able to see beyond it. These lines, from the gorgeous poem below, bring me back to childhood and the novel that more than any other book made me want to be a writer. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is about Francie … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Warsan Shire
What wearies you? What renews you? Who brings you joy? Who exhausts you? When you think of safety and comfort and happiness, what place or person comes to mind? The answers to these questions are already known to you. They live in your body, in a place beyond conscious thought and its dangerous companions, rationalization … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by John Freeman
Five years ago this week my older daughter and I were sitting on the porch of a cafe in Istanbul, smoking a hookah and eating mezes and pita bread. Later, we walked the streets of our neighborhood, which was on the Bosphorus. At one point the muezzins began their call to prayer, the sound of … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Jaime Manrique
Once, a long time ago, I went to a jumprope exhibition in the gym of a middle school. There were teams of tandem jumpers, rope dancers, and synchronized twirling. The students had practiced for many weeks prior to the exhibition. This was back in the days of big VHS camcorders, and I had one on … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by David Kirby
We used to call them the funnies, and I have a memory of sitting on my dad’s big lap while he folded the newspaper in half, then quarters, so he could read them to me. This would have been on a Sunday, because I remember the strips as being full-color. I still read the daily … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Stephan Pastis
I used to assume that the basic principles of U.S. democracy –however unequally and poorly applied– were firmly in place and would remain so, and would see us through this current nightmare. But I don’t believe that anymore. When I read this poem the other day I literally jumped up and cheered, even though I … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by June Jordan
a collection of beautiful words.....
Objects, Memory and Meaning
If it can't be said in a hundred words, then it can't be said in a thousand.
sewing a handmade wardrobe
We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world. -jack gilbert
The Good Things Black People Do, Give and Receive All Over The World
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
Thoughts on the world around me
the literary asylum
Bipolar is my superpower
