Share the Wealth: Francis of Assisi
[T]oday it is not nearly enough to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment, a new saintliness, itself also without precedent. —Simone Weil #1 A Prayer Lord, make…
Category: World Literature
Ferlinghetti Florilegium
endless the ever-unwinding watchspring heart of the world shimmering in time shining through space as if they were watching some odorless TV ad in which everything is always possible Where are Whitman’s wild children, where…
Uncancelable
Colin Irwin, Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited New York : Billboard Books, 2008 Legendary Session 1. You’ve been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books… And dropping a barbell he points to the sky saying,…
The Good News of Translation
1. Thanks to __________, I Was Able to Read_______’s _________ [Language] Richard Fein, Yankev Glatshteyn, Selected Poems [Yiddish] Hillel Halkin, Sholem Aleichem, Tevye the Dairyman [Yiddish] Nili Wachtel, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Meshugah [Yiddish] Martha…
Love in Action: The Brothers Karamazov Reading Community 2021
“The fault I find with our journalism is that it forces us to take an interest in some fresh triviality or other every day, whereas only three or four books in a lifetime give us…
Yiddish Writers
H. Leivick I have often felt that instead of writing my autobiography I would like to write the biography of my poems. I mean, tell the life story of some of my poems… Sholem Aleichem…
Taking Refuge in Po Chü-i
Enough already of Useful Idiots, Counterpunch, flare-ups at The Intercept Political yammering by self-appointed soothsayers This Friday night I fade far away from news of assorted American Psychos And am welcomed by Po Chü-i Who…
A Public Reflection on Tonight and on Hope’s Beautiful Daughters (as Shared on Social Media) by Rachel Sacks
For six months I’ve gotten to read and learn and grow with a real sweet group of folks. Mark Chmiel is such a generous teacher, and the communities he builds, so loving and expansive. An…
With Presence, Alertness, Patience, and Care
John Brehm, The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy When asked by a student if there was a secret to writing haiku, Buson replied, “Yes, use the commonplace to escape the commonplace.” When the student…
“Olympian, Philosophical, Seamless, and All-Encompassing”
Edmund White, Marcel Proust Saturday 29 May 1999 Cullings A captivating, informed, discerning, spirited little biography, one could say that it is a bio of the gay Proust, as the author makes frequent reference to…