Radical Presence

The following passages are from an interview with U.S.  poet Anne Waldman, co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics… Poetry needs the breath. It needs the voice. It needs the body. It needs…

May We Always Be Amateurs

Nonrequired Reading: Prose Pieces Wislawa Szymborska Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh Herein are a few score short pieces by the Nobel laureate (Literature, 1996), usually no more than a page or two, although…

Marvelous Error!

for all dear friends who are returning, all dear friends who are leaving, and all dear friends who are staying …   Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that a spring was…

Le Monomanie Merveilleux

Learn it by heart Sur mes cahiers d’écolier Summon it when staring into the abyss Sur toutes les pages blanches Translate it into new millennial American English Sur l’écho de mon enfance One year, translate…

Come, Beloved by Meera

As the lotus dies without water, As the night is blind without the moon, So is my heart without you, Beloved. I wander alone at night, Driven by my longing for you. I hunger for…

Viva Tang

Ten thousand and two texts A thousand and three tweets 644 Facebook status updates 87 cell phone messages save or delete Enough already! Take a deep breath Leave behind the technology And go out To…

I Know the Richest Person on Earth

1. In our Intercultural Studies class today Mariah, Ta’mare, and Rachel read the following stanzas Of “Our True Heritage” by Thích Nhất Hạnh: The cosmos is filled with precious gems. I want to offer a…

Hedy & Heine

The year after Mev died I read a lot of literature– Poetry, novels, plays One volume I took refuge in Was a bi-lingual edition of Heine’s Songs of Love & Grief I have a favorite…