October 31, 2016
The Demon, Interrupted: On The Neon Demon
The Neon Demon isn’t the worst film ever made, but it is terrible because one can see promise squandered. By promise, however, I don’t mean the director, the super-slick Nicolas […]
October 28, 2016
Here the World Drowns
Then I remembered: Mama wasn’t gone but safe, in her bed, turning in sleep. It was I who went away—from Chopin in the bones, palms heavy with dates like dark purple […]
October 26, 2016
Poetry and Leadership: Part II
Continued from “Poetry and Leadership: Part I.” In thinking about reading and writing poetry as part of a practice of engagement, there are a few poems that have become touchstone […]
October 24, 2016
“Ultimate Male Nightmares”: on Boxing Helena and Election 2016 (Part 2)
“All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me—consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.” —Donald Trump I refused to watch the debates this year; unfortunately, given […]
October 14, 2016
Poetry and Leadership: Part I
This post is an adaptation of a talk I gave at last weekend’s Imagining America National Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The medium of poetry is language—not some alternate language to that […]
October 14, 2016
“Ultimate Male Nightmares”: on Boxing Helena and Election 2016 (Part 1)
Recently, I had a conversation with an older male colleague who enlightened me on the “real” reason Boxing Helena is not the “awkward fairy tale” as Jennifer Lynch intended: […]
October 6, 2016
And She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea (Part 2)
Caminante, no hay puentes, se hace puentes al andar. (Voyager, there are no bridges, one builds them as one walks.) —Gloria E. Anzaldúa Once we realized She could […]
September 28, 2016
She Is That Thing from Another World (Part 1)
“Women have one of the great acts of all time. The smart ones act very feminine and needy, but inside they are real killers. The person who came up with […]
September 12, 2016
In Silence We Became the Most Real
What’s best is on windy days when the smell of Antilles lilies or petrichor washes over me like an illusion of a warm summer day. —“Antillian Landscape,” Ruben […]
September 9, 2016
How To
Who said—and I’m woefully paraphrasing—that each poem teaches you to read it in the reading of it? Or each poet teaches you to understand their personal language within the poems themselves? I […]
August 31, 2016
Goodbye, World Not Ending
“i am the nightbreaker. i shouldn’t go to bed without singing.” ― Sheila Maldonado, “break night song“ Goodbye, summer. Goodbye, multiple showers we’ve taken due to midnight walks in a month-long heat wave, […]
August 29, 2016
‘Is that real?’: an interview with Justin Sanders
A few weeks back, I wrote about the work of emerging writer Justin Sanders. Here, Sanders takes some time to answer questions about truth and fiction, higher education, influence, and Baltimore. I’ve […]