“In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.”- Camus
In mid-January, two red slashes like scarves arrived in darkness, suspended in the air above the marshes outside the city. One man at a tolling station who often stood idly watching the procession of planes descending, dropping into the airport in an orderly declivity, one, and another, then another, said they appeared without any detonation or flares, as if someone had said “Now”. He looked for a helicopter throwing off […]
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A final note on what I’ve learned about poetry by writing it. I make no claims for the quality of my own poetry. This is just what writing it calls to mind. Poetry feels like writing forced through multiple filters. That is true of all writing. Filters are meant to remove impurities, extraneous mush, that which does not belong. But prose operates with both addition and subtraction, with both purification […]
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Lara has been cutting hair since she was 19, 34 years ago. She looks forward to each day. She loves the act of cutting hair — the shaping, the use she makes of scissors, the use she makes of her practiced eye to create balance, to make even the jowly old feel better about looking in the mirror. We told stories to each other, mostly about children and their resilience […]
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I’ve been writing poetry for 6 years and have just completed a preliminary draft of poems for my 5th collection, a two year process of daily writing and revision. I’ve written that first sentence only to set up this sentence: I wish I had written poetry before I had ever taught it. Writing poetry over these last 6 years has given me insights into how poetry comes into existence, and […]
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