A Request from Haiti
A friend in Haiti asked me to send her the following passage from Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, and now I want to reread the whole novel again! Later, after getting used to Alyosha, Pyotr Alexandrovich…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
The Wedding—
with its three major conflicts brewing (“you’re on my side, aren’t you?”) and seven minor ones simmering (“he was a loser then, he’s even worse now”) the bride’s burning eyes (“there’s only one way to…
I Blame Jonathan Richman
I had to take out A restraining order On “that summer feeling” It’s been haunting me
At My Wake, Someone Will Hear Someone Else Say…
“He was always telling me to share my writing…” “You, too? He said that to me, like… weekly!” “Weekly? He’d badger me daily for a fortnight until I gave up.” “He was relentless.” “Verdad. Yep,…
Some People Are Relentless
Tomorrow may I come over to Sophia House Borrow your notebook Take it to my house Copy the pages you wrote And read to me at NW Coffee (Saturday 21 April) Return to Sophia House…
If This Is It, Then What Is It?
Three writing topics proposed by Sara Rendell: 1. If this is it, then what is it? 2. Dear Internal Critic, You Have 15 Minutes before I Ignore You 3. Something that surprised me today “If…
American Classics: Emma Goldman
Dear Friends, This month for our American Classics Reading Circle, we will explore Emma Goldman’s essay “Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty.” It is available on-line here. We meet on Wednesday 23 May and begin with…
Reading and Discussing Kanafani
Last week in our second meeting of Arab Writers in Translation Reading Circle, Amal, Fatima, Becca, Hala, Sharifa, and I discussed Ghassan Kanfani’s Men in the Sun, and Other Palestinian Stories. Sharifa provided this helpful…
Morning at La Dolce Via
The immense wealth you have to give away– Your beauty Your contemplation Your healing– You’ve already started With Me Today
Reply to Yüan Chen
You write out my poems, filling monastery walls, and I crowd these door-screens here with yours. Old friend, we never know where it is we’ll meet– we two duckweed leaves adrift on such vast seas….