Category: World Literature

Radical Presence

The following passages are from an interview with U.S.  poet Anne Waldman, co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics… Poetry needs the breath. It needs the voice. It needs the body. It needs…

Brainard’s Memories

The NY painter Joe Brainard wrote a wonderful book, I Remember, in which he collected memories from days gone by in one long litany. He writes about ordinary things:  chicken noodle soup, juke boxes, tanning,…

May We Always Be Amateurs

Nonrequired Reading: Prose Pieces Wislawa Szymborska Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh Herein are a few score short pieces by the Nobel laureate (Literature, 1996), usually no more than a page or two, although…

Marvelous Error!

for all dear friends who are returning, all dear friends who are leaving, and all dear friends who are staying …   Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that a spring was…

Le Monomanie Merveilleux

Learn it by heart Sur mes cahiers d’écolier Summon it when staring into the abyss Sur toutes les pages blanches Translate it into new millennial American English Sur l’écho de mon enfance One year, translate…

Zen Flesh Zen Bones

Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child. — Soyen Shaku Many of us are students…

Opening up Minds

Tariq Ali on Hugo Chavez: I remember sitting next to an elderly, modestly attired woman at one of his public rallies. She questioned me about him. What did I think? Was he doing well? Did…

Happy Every Day

I take both grace and insult With cheerful equanimity — Du Fu Dear Wendy, Congrats on your decision to move to China and, as Kerouac advised, be in love with your Shanghai life. I marvel…