April 1, 2017
On April Fools Day The Giraffes Are in Charge & They Are Poets
“Wouldn’t it be unique to have a calf that day?” —Zookeeper Jordan Patch on April the Giraffe Today, this very first day of April, the giraffes are in charge, and […]
March 22, 2017
On Sacred Spaces & Community: Jewish Poets Speak Out
March 14, 2017
Voyager I Am Singing the Fire
Jews, we sing the fire. Our song is of people who care for the fire. We sang from inside fire. For thousands of years in the diaspora, our fire survived through […]
March 6, 2017
Painting the Since [Then]
This World is not Conclusion. A Species stands beyond – Invisible, as Music – But positive, as Sound – It beckons, and it baffles – —Emily Dickinson, “This World is not […]
February 23, 2017
On Difficult Loves
February 22, 2017
Goon I Feel You
How such gentle names belie the bodies checked into boards. Like in another context you could say: Here maple leafs fall among islanders, and think I’m talking about vacationing […]
February 16, 2017
I’ll Never Forget Her Name: On Private Selves in Public Spaces
Let me begin by stating this is not a post-AWP-reflections essay. Or maybe it is exactly that. I was talking to a poet who did not think herself a poet, […]
January 31, 2017
Breaking Down
Last July your husband’s eldest aunt passed away, very suddenly. She broke her ankle and was rushed to the hospital. Although her bloodwork was not good, her scans came back clear. […]
January 30, 2017
On Carrying Each Other & Cosmic Debt
The world is gone, I must carry you. —Paul Celan If my father was not the kind of person he is, it would be a touchy subject. It bears […]
January 26, 2017
Derechim: Writing as traveler’s prayer
Years ago, one of my first would-be mentors told me that he was never writing again. That the sum total of rejection, the pressure to keep sending work out […]
January 23, 2017
Gam Zu L’tova (This too Is for the Good)
And when they bombed other people’s houses, we protested but not enough, we opposed them but not enough. I was in my bed, around my bed America was falling: invisible […]
December 31, 2016
Rituals of Hope: On New Year’s Resolutions
I never make resolutions on January 1 because for me, Rosh Hashanah ushers in the New Year, a time in which I enter a quiet, reflective solitude. But […]