Author: Mark J. Chmiel

I Remember by Nima

Nima, one of my former students, took a “Writing as a Spiritual Practice” class with me and one evening we explored the theme of memory. Now a fourth-year medical student, Nima wrote this recollection of…

Nawal El Saadawi: Uncalled-for-boldness

This year I have invited people to participate in an Arab Writers in Translation Reading Circle. Last month, several friends and I met to discuss Egyptian writer Nawal El-Saadawi’s 1983 Memoirs from the Women’s Prison,…

Start with a Postcard

Seriously, send me some of yr random ricochet words Old school style via USPS Your wild mind that existed eons before TFA Your dream mind that will be glowing long after the NSA

For Amal and Amal

The enemy is all about erasure Tactics: derision and denial Insults and salt in the wounds When you’re a student of history It’s no surprise— That’s what the powerful do So tell them over and…

Word of the Day: Apokatastasis

Allen Ginsberg: …The conditions of revolution in late twentieth century are conditions unforeseen by any other civilization. We are going to the moon, we have drugs that go to the moon inside, we’ve recovered the…

Memory is a Mysterious Thing

When  I was reading Proust And about 200 pages into Swann’s Way I suddenly remembered  a friend Who had told me about his friend Whose father was the CEO of a major transnational corporation & Whose…

Somos amantes de la poesía

Querida Doctora (que es tan querida), Una pregunta:  ¿Te gusta Neruda? Si “sí,” entonces usted está calificada para introducirnos a Pablo. Este es un grupo de aficionadas. Por favor, considere compartir con nosotras. Afectuosamente, Marcos