Training Our Memory
Adam Zagajewski, Another Beauty Translated by Clare Cavanagh Memoirs of a young poet who studied in Krakow. Mostly it is the short aperçus that captured my attention and interest, plus the method of writing a…
Category: Reviews
Japaneseness
In the 90s, phrases like “global village” and “global economy” were increasingly common. The technologies that have emerged since then allow us incredible possibilities of connecting and learning. Think … besides anime, what do we…
“What Will Become of Yiddish?”
Chava Rosenfarb, Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays Edited by Goldie Morgentaler McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019 Scholar and professor Morgentaler has gathered an impressive collection of writings by her mother, Chava Rosenfarb. A…
Beautiful and Toxic Multitudes
Jewish because reading Dostoyevsky at 13 I write poems at restaurant tables Lower East Side, perfect delicatessen intellectual –Allen Ginsberg, Yiddishe Kopf Prompted by a recent tragedy, I turned again to the conclusion of Fyodor…
“Life Must Be Serious or It Can Go to the Devil”
Naguib Mahfouz, Mirrors [Al-Maraya] Illustrated by Seif Wanli Translated by Roger Allen —March 2005 What an odd book! It can be a goad to do something experimental in the future. It is a series of…
“Scribbled Secret Notebooks, and Wild Typewritten Pages, for Yr Own Joy”
Inspired by Diana Raab, Writers and Their Notebooks I read Raab’s book right about the end of my time at SLU. Moving on to Maryville University, I found a way to assign Natalie Goldberg’s Bones…
Wherever We Are Useful
Katharina Mommsen, Goethe’s Art of Living Trafford, 2003 Translators: John Crosetto, John Whaley, Renee M. Schell A teacher who can awaken a sense of a single good deed or a single good poem accomplishes more…
Remembrance, Responsibility, Reparations
Ariel S. Garfinkel, Scofflaw: International Law and America’s Deadly Weapons in Vietnam With the recent passing of Senator John McCain, it’s clear how hard it is for many Americans see what we’ve done in the world….
That Glow, That Yes!
Natalie Goldberg, Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft 30 September 2000 It’s clear to me today, anyway, that my Holy Contour of Life book will be a structure like Natalie’s: short, compressed, easy…
God Is Hidden. Poetry Is Obvious.
On Adam Zagajewski, Another Beauty We find comfort only in Another beauty, in others’ Music, in the poetry of others. Salvation lies with others, Though solitude may taste like Opium. Other people aren’t hell If…