A Paradise for Perusers

I have given away four copies of James Mustich’s chef d’oeuvre, 1,000 Books to Read before You Die: A Life-Changing List, before I bought and kept one for myself. I became acquainted with Mr. Mustich…

Ginsberg Variations

“Catch yourself thinking.” —Allen Ginsberg, “Cosmopolitan Greetings” Catch myself gossiping. Catch myself kvetching. Catch myself zoning out. Catch myself sneering. Catch myself smirking. Catch myself looking away. Catch myself signaling. Catch myself signing off superciliously….

Ho-hum

William Carlos Williams/Selected Poems New Directions, 1968 See Also Reznikoff, Complete Poems;  Thursday 26 May 2011 Someone please tell me the big deal about WCW, I’m halfway through this book and am not astounded, inspired,…

Mentshes/5

Sign Up by Lindsey Trout Hughes Hi, Mark! I hope this note finds you well. I saw your post last week about the spring writing course. I asked Katie Consamus over coffee if she’d like…

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…

Dharma Sister

From the Cover of Amy Schmidt’s book on Dipa Ma Revision The poet W. H. Auden wrote “The funniest and kindest of mortals Are those who are most aware of the baffle of being” (A…

L. K.Lapinski

She’s Had a Pretty Good Nocturnal Run At Dunkin’ Donuts She said matter-of-factly “I haven’t had a nightmare In 17 years” She’s 22 Share the Wealth with Laura Katherine Lapinski: The Films of Wes Anderson…

Blasts from the Past

Hold It All It must have been 1983, springtime: I asked former classmate Ray Pruitt what he’d been reading. “Last night, Kierkegaard, Proust, and Phil Berrigan.” Things Have Changed It was back in 1982 We…