Freeing Up Our Poetic Imaginations
The Ghost of Birds has many intriguing pieces; I want to focus simply on one. And on the riches of the last three paragraphs on the final two pages of his essay, “American Indias.” …
Month: November 2020
In Medias Res/2
This Is What I Can Do When it comes to righteous indignation Reshma makes Arundhati Roy seem timid At a public reading of The Book of Mev I made sure she went last and read…
Reshma/2
My Psychic Powers Acknowledged in This Morning’s Email “How is it that you always know What I need to hear Even when we are 950 miles apart?” When I Listen and Re-listen to Your Messages…
The Work Goes on
Recollection In October 2003 We were in Nablus Awarta, Ramallah Being alert in the olive groves Dashing across the settler-only roads Learning a thing or two about sumud In Louisville the minister and civil rights…
Accompaniment/2
Alive beyond Alive My friend Loyola worked at Mount Saint Joseph and knew Pete Mosher. She and I reminisced before Pete’s funeral. Cab Yau picked me up at Loyola’s that morning and we went to…
Mentshes/5
Sign Up by Lindsey Trout Hughes Hi, Mark! I hope this note finds you well. I saw your post last week about the spring writing course. I asked Katie Consamus over coffee if she’d like…
Under Pressure
The Wretched Truth One of the very worst things in life… is when you cannot help or be with someone you love who is working 100 hours a week. Every week. Deepest Darkest Insecurities by…
The Teachings Are Infinite…
I vow to learn them all.–from Bodhisattva Vows “You Are That Person” A student asked Soen NakagawaDuring a meditation retreat: “I am very discouraged. What should I do?”Soen replied, “Encourage others.” At the beginning of…
Miracle One-Liners
I pulled the following from Nhat Hanh’s The Miracle of Mindfulness… “Look at the cypress tree over there.” “Washing the dishes to wash the dishes” “The finger which points at the moon isn’t the…
Huzzah!/2
Make Lists Not War Dear Cami, One index of a profitable reading experience may very well be in the marginalia we make. For instance, I read Ed Sanders’ collection of poetry Let’s Not Keep Fighting…