Taking Refuge in Po Chü-i

Enough already of Useful Idiots, Counterpunch, flare-ups at The Intercept Political yammering by self-appointed soothsayers This Friday night I fade far away from news of assorted American Psychos And am welcomed by Po Chü-i Who…

Remembering Shammai

Shabes morning I fix a period for reading My three “rabbis” recently deceased— Harold Bloom, whose extended family on both sides perished in Europe Every boy but one in George Steiner’s lycée lived after the…

Meditations

Written in the Margins of Ginsberg’s “Why I Meditate” There are 10,000 reasons to meditate (at least) There are 10,000 beings to save (for starters) There are 10,000 demented states of consciousness to purify (carpe…

The Reading Life/2

By the Blue Light of a Cell Phone by Katie Consamus Dr Chmiel, I just flipped on CNN after getting home from rehearsal and immediately thought of our encounter on New Year’s Eve as I…

The Battle of the Gods

Zainab al-Ghazali, Return of the Pharaoh: Memoir in Nasir’s Prison Translated by  Mokrane Guezzou Our goal is reformation and not sabotage, edification not destruction.  Zainab al-Ghazali Nawal el-Saadawi may have met her match in Zainab…

Healers

How to Live Jesus had his students Dipa Ma had her devotees Joanie French has her students Jesus sat with people Dipa Ma sat with people Joanie  helps people to sit without pain Jesus placed…