January 3, 2019
Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry – January
“Education is not the filling of a pail,” reads the sign above my colleague’s desk, “but the lighting of a fire.” These lines—often attributed to the poet W. B. Yeats—happen […]
February 19, 2016
Un-Valentine’s Day
Just as Humpty Dumpty celebrated un-birthdays, some of us at the University of Michigan on Monday celebrated Un-Valentine’s Day. Our cupcakes were topped with hearts, yes; but they were also […]
October 19, 2013
Betjeman’s Reverse Blazon: Assembling and Disassembling the Loved Body
John Betjeman’s “The Licorice Fields at Pontefract” is a curious thing. The first two lines go as follows: In the licorice fields at Pontefract My love and I did meet* […]