Somewhere Along the Line the Pearl Would Be Handed to Me
In the bar I told Dean, “Hell, man, I know very well you didn’t come to me only to want to become a writer, and after all what do I really know about it except…
Tag: Joe Brainard
Lines Written on the Back of a Wangari Maathai Postcard by Katja
I remember cookies crumbs on 6 North Coffee tables I remember the banishment of “should” I remember Being Peace I remember blue-lined notebooks I remember Natalie Goldbergisms I remember writing outside the margins I remember…
Writing Our Own Histories: A Spring/Summer Class
“First We Read, Then We Write” –title of Robert D. Richardson’s study on Emerson’s creative life “Something that you feel will find its own form” –Jack Kerouac, U.S. novelist and poet “You have to write…
Milosz’s ABC’s
Milosz’s ABC’s Translated from the Polish by Madeline G. Levine Listening last night to Natalie Long talking about Poland and mentioning Czeslaw Milosz reminded me of reading his ABC’s back in 2001. Around that time…
Both/And
Joe Brainard, I Remember I read Joe Brainard’s classic in 2002 as I was finishing up a draft of what was published as The Book of Mev in 2005. In many writing classes I’ve facilitated…
To Hold the Heft of Your Words in My Hands
OK. I Confess: I’m afraid I won’t live long enough To hold in my wrinkled hands A nasturtium-colored book entitled The Collected Writings of Bella Levenshteyn (v. 1, much less v.1-7) But on the bright side…
“Be in Love with Yr Life”*: A Spring Writing Course
Like Sontag and Beseda, many of us are tempted to be intolerant of the ambiguity and intimidated by the risks of photography and other art forms. Ultimately, I believe we are most daunted by the…
Makes Me Happy
To receive a vivid piece of writing (poem, rant, trans-genre) from a friend and then get permission to share it with others who are adept at appreciation To bike in Forest Park, run up Art…
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,…
Reading/Writing/Seeing
for Emily, Kelley, and Lindsay 1. In reality every reader is, while she is reading, the reader of her own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to…