"I never could get the hang of Thursday"Arthur Dent Thursday is easy. It is preceded by Wednesday and followed by Friday. Wednesday is the pivot point of the week. The day of looking forward to the work I have to do and looking back to see how much of my to-do list I have accomplished. Wednesday is that rising feeling that I won't get it all done. Thursday is the day of defeat. Wednesday's rising sense of doom settles in with a detailed list of those things that will not get done. … [Continue reading]
Four Books on the Modern Essay
In the last couple of months I have been reading a lot about essays. Of the four books reviews here, the one I’d most recommend for the general reader is the D’Agata. It’s a collection of essays with short introductory notes suited those curious … [Continue reading]
Letter Home 4 Aug, 2018
Dearest ones, I went to a lecture last week. Ilya Kaminsky, a famous Ukrainian poet, began by asking “How is life on this shiny planet?” I did not know how to answer him. He taped pictures by Diego Rivera to the wall and read from Calvino’s … [Continue reading]
Ragtime — E. L. Doctrow
It starts out so oddly. It’s off putting. There is a family whose members have no names only markers for their places Mother, Father, Younger Brother, the Boy. Then Houdini crashes his car into a tree and ends up sweating out an afternoon in the … [Continue reading]
Knick‐Knack
This old man - he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb. This old man, my old man, my man, is a long haul trucker. Here last week, gone this week. Back the week after. Knick-knack, paddy-whack give a dog a bone. I'm singing to the … [Continue reading]
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