Category: Writing

By Little and Little

All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance: it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant…

Both/And

Like other works, [Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets] is concerned with the nature, and, more importantly, the limits of human achievement. It assumes what its surrounding works assume: The continuity and dignity of the…

Vexation of Spirit

What is my book but just making history among the fools—the sooner I give up literary attainment the sooner Enlightenment will come to me—If on my deathbed I’m still involved in literary matters I’ll deserve…

What Came First

I was reading C.K. Williams’s book On WhitmanSeptember 2010And I scribbled on page 97 these three.. A NameAn AvowalA Maxim– Kelly McBride“You Are My Hero”Seven times down, eight times up The “Hero” referenceI’d first scribbled…

Share the Wealth: Writing with Yael

#1Last Night’s Email from Jessica Flier I write, becauseFirst and foremost, I must!But also – because,Of you.To take the broken heart and expose itbring the carefully concealed underbelly to the surfaceresisting the urge to hide…

You Can Write Poetry!

Diane di PrimaOLD AGE: The  Dilemma most of what I’m writing   not that interesting but the act of writing itself more compelling than ever ********* Dear Siobhan Thank you for your snail-mail, but I…

“I Remember” by Loran Aladdin

Loran wrote the following for my Humanities 101 class at Maryville University this past spring semester. _______________________ I remember a lifetime of feeling as though I should refrain from being proud of my identity. I…