Organizing my favorite books of the year is always a challenging task. How to sort through so many remarkable books, particularly when preferences are so subjective? How to make some sort of sense or cohesion out of such a disparate array of texts? Ultimately, the books that made the final cut are the ones that … Continue reading 2021 Reading List – The Final
poetry
The Wo-Man-Moth, for Eric
"Love should be put into action!" screamed the old hermit.Across the pond an echo tried and tried to confirm it.—Elizabeth Bishop, "Chemin de Fer" I have a near relation in the hospital with COVID-19, someone dear but also estranged. However, this is not about him. It's about what this person's being in the hospital stirs … Continue reading The Wo-Man-Moth, for Eric
Notions, the “Revisiting the Book is Always Better” edition or ‘Shadow and Bone’ redux
Early in the summer I wrote of my love for the Netflix adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, part of the "Grishaverse," and how I was glad to have gotten to the show before reading the book(s) because "the book is always better." Well, I have now read the first book in the series … Continue reading Notions, the “Revisiting the Book is Always Better” edition or ‘Shadow and Bone’ redux
Ode to Escalante
I visited the Southern Utah desert a few weeks ago. After I returned I was doing my usual hike in Eugene, noticing the changes spring had wrought during my week away—new leaves, flowers, a cacophony of bird chirps like a warming up symphony. And while it was beautiful, it made me a little bit sad, … Continue reading Ode to Escalante
Emerging, Changing – Poems for the Spring
Last Saturday was the vernal equinox, the time when light and dark come into balance before, in the Northern hemisphere, the light begins to expand and grow leading up to the summer solstice. We arbitrarily mark this day as the first day of spring. As with other such global, astronomical events, it's an important holiday … Continue reading Emerging, Changing – Poems for the Spring
Choose! Your Dead Author Quarantine House
Which group of dead authors would you choose to quarantine with, if forced (able) to choose? That is the question of the week. Each has, by design, pros and cons. Is Zora Neale Hurston worth being stuck inside with Normal Mailer? Could you stomach Ayn Rand if it got you Maya Angelou? These are the … Continue reading Choose! Your Dead Author Quarantine House
Reading During Difficult Times
In the last couple weeks I have found myself pinned between the return to work and busyness after the relative quiet of the holiday season and a national crisis. I hit a point last week staring at a stack of partially-read books feeling the existential anxiety of not having enough time to read all the … Continue reading Reading During Difficult Times
Resonating Distillations
During this social distancing period, I have been seeking escape in fiction and resolve in non-fiction, but also turning to poetry for something else. Poetry distills experience, and also focuses the gaze in such a way as to make a familiar thing new or uncanny or reformed. Right now, I find in seeing the world … Continue reading Resonating Distillations
Going Off Book: Quarantine Celebrity-ing, + Notions, Late April Edition
Celebrity-ing While Quarantining During the COVID-19 pandemic, while most of us #shelterinplace, celebrities have been putting out elaborately orchestrated videos to entertain the troops, as it were, and keep up morale. And generally speaking, call me "curmudgeon" if you must, I loathe what feels to me like being pandered to by rich and famous people. … Continue reading Going Off Book: Quarantine Celebrity-ing, + Notions, Late April Edition
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 