January 30, 2009
The Ignoble Rider and the Soundlessness of Words
After seven inches of snow and a warm spell, the whole city steams wetly– a hot dish the waiter’s lifted the lid of clouds off of. I have a squash […]
January 30, 2009
We live in public. There is no recording of me calling up a Providence radio station when I was in 5th grade to request The Hooters’ “And We Danced.” I would lie facedown on my bed, the bedroom window open and the bakery next door starting up again in the early, early morning–and if they played that song, well, then I could break open, and be outside in the night street, I could go into as many bedrooms as the smell of the bread could“If they played that song on the few nights my ten-year-old self needed to be carried away, I could be nobody.
January 28, 2009
I’d Like To Thank the Academy, And the Copy-editor, And the Publicist…
In short order, you will see the annual parade of scribes, players, machinists and sundry artists giddily sweeping toward a microphone when beckoned, thanking the Academy. The nominations were released […]
January 27, 2009
John Updike (1932-2009)
“With Barthelme gone I suddenly got a glimpse of how disassembled and undirected and simply bereft I would feel if I were to learn suddenly through the Associated Press of […]
January 26, 2009
This Post is Brought to Ye by the Letter Thorn
Pictures via Smoot. I ran into someone I hadn’t expected to see again today. Seamus Heaney had introduced us a long while ago, but the last place I expected to […]
January 24, 2009
As If We Were Alive
If I’m going to move into a term, I like it to be deserted first. The 9-stria rafter of James Merrill’s Changing Light at Sandover (a ouija-based spirit/poetic epic), Charles […]
January 23, 2009
Out, into the Ether (with Ana Bo??i??evi??)
My computer screen as it shuts down all applications is a sky of drifting summer clouds. ““White packs of cloud cross the heavens like thoughts” when Bjartur first shows Rosa […]
January 21, 2009
While Soap Bubbles Freeze / Delicate Crumpling Planets / We Could Iridesce
I learned another wonderful thing about the world the other day. Going to work, I was informed first that it was -17 degrees Fahrenheit outside ??? and second, that ordinary […]
January 21, 2009
Presidential Language
Especially striking about President Obama’s inauguration speech was its inclusiveness, exemplified in the opening line: “I stand here today humbled by the task before us.” No sooner does the singular […]
January 21, 2009
The Folly of Lists
I asked an author once who his favorite writer was. He looked at me like I was nuts. This was the first time I realized how foolish it was to […]
January 20, 2009
For the Occasion: “Poetry is the human voice”
I listened today with great pleasure as Elizabeth Alexander read her poem Praise Song for the Day at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. What a joy it was to […]
January 19, 2009
Frontier President
Although Richard Sieburth’s magnificent new rendering (available from the essential Archipelago Books) omits the date (following the latest scholarship), I still read B??chner’s unassailable Lenz every January 20th. As does […]