Author Archives:
Poetry Friday: “The Way In” by Linda Hogan
The pink and purple and white canopies I mentioned recently have mostly given way to leafy clouds, the piercing yellow-green of springtime. The hardiest bad-ass stems and tendrils are forcing themselves through cracks in sidewalks and retaining walls. Road and bridge repair crews have set up shop amid blooming orange traffic cones. College commencements and [...]
Poetry Friday: “Heat” by Michael Chitwood
Ironing, like so many other domestic chores, has about it the air of religion. There is a compelling need for specific implements and special rituals, a curious balance of fire and water, a mix of dry and damp, and a fresh (unending!) supply of pristine garments — all looming overwhelmingly to wring order from chaos. [...]
Poetry Friday: “Crowning” by Kevin Young
Long into each winter I reach a point where I am drawn to believe that the weather and I will never be warm again. I often make it through the holidays and the year end/beginning before this moment of existential despair overtakes me, most often after several days of unseasonable cold and unrelenting winds. I [...]
Poetry Friday: “Pleasures” by Denise Levertov
Walking to the subway one recent morning, I saw a torn bit of plastic lying in the gutter: a common sign, found in any hardware store, made for routine use. This one had a jet-black background from which angry orange letters glared. It originally commanded “NO PARKING,” but all that remained (of insubstantial plastic) was [...]
Poetry Friday: “Breakage” by Mary Oliver
Mourning the loss of Krystle, Lingzi, Martin, Sean ____________________ The week opened here with two bombs exploding and closed with the arduous pursuit of those responsible. The weight of our grief is incalculable. At the boundaries of life and death, and overwhelmed by brokenness, it is tempting to say that words fail. But that is [...]
Moment of Zen: Tax Day
(1) Lawrence A. Zelenak, a professor of law at Duke University, is the author of Learning to Love Form 1040: Two Cheers for the Return-Based Mass Income Tax, in which he bravely describes the origins, history, and current complexity of the federal income tax. He also offers philosophical reasons and practical suggestions for changing the [...]
Poetry Friday: “April” by Alicia Ostriker
Disembarking from a subway car one recent evening, I was engulfed by a chattering bunch of middle schoolers (all of eleven or twelve years old) returning from a soccer game. Bunched together, we climbed the steps to the station and I dutifully followed the pair of pink-socked legs that appeared at my eye level. How [...]
Poetry Friday: “Spring” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I’d been encouraged, during the past week or so, by seeing more and more crocus flowers during my trips through town. The brave green leaves have been up for almost two weeks now, but the petals are a lovely new addition to the landscape — purple, yellow, white. Daffodils, too, and jonquils — though I’ve [...]
Poetry Friday: “One Train May Hide Another” by Kenneth Koch
A dear friend’s perceptive kindness (“if you need some inspiration”) brought this poem to my virtual doorstep earlier in the week. Some days prior, a friend at work was eager to go for lunch to report his pride in a complicated project successfully completed. Some days after, a colleague asked for help in pulling together [...]
Poetry Friday: “Life Story” by Tennessee Williams
Yesterday the New York Times reminded us: The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week in a pair of cases challenging laws relating to same-sex marriage. On Tuesday, lawyers will argue a challenge to California’s gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, and the next day, the justices will hear a challenge to the federal law [...]
