Ginsberg’s Gratitude
And I never realized that [the cornices of the buildings] meant spiritual labor, to anyone—that somebody had labored to make a curve in a piece of tin—to make a cornucopia out of a piece of…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Sara
So as America melts down in a colossal boom of bad news (just read Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi) and as my age becomes more inescapable every week, and I wonder what to make of…
With Gratitude for Rexroth
Kenneth Rexroth, 100 Poems from the JapaneseNew Directions, 1964 Dear EJ Kenneth Rexroth—poet, polymath, anarchist, and pacifist—is a fine guide to Chinese and Japanese poetry. He provided six books of translation for the enrichment of…
Instead of Reciting a Gatha, Here I Am Listening to Dylan
Leave at your own chosen speed….
Autumn Merton Hour with Rocco Erker: Love, War, and a Vocation
Join us for our fourth Zoom gathering this year to explore the work of Thomas Merton—Sunday 20 November7 p.m. Central TimeEmail me for URL: markjchmiel@gmail.com Rocco Erker has been a lifelong reader and student of Thomas…
An Out-Going Heart
Earlier today, I unintentionally came across the following writing in response to a prompt I received from Sara Rendell on September 9, 2013. We could learn a lot about having an out-going heart by following…
If You Need a Photographer…
Contact my friend Cami Kasmerchak, who now has a website. Check out her photography!
Notice What You Notice
Primo Levi: I never stopped recording the world and people around me, so much that I still have an unbelievably detailed image of them. I had an intense wish to understand, I was constantly pervaded…
Starting in Early January 2023
14,000 Things to Be Happy About: A Class in Reading, Writing, and Sharing