(For Robert Lowell) This is the time of year when almost every night the frail, illegal fire balloons appear. Climbing the mountain height, rising toward a saint still honored in these parts, the paper chambers flush and fill with light that comes and goes, like hearts. Once up against the sky it’s hard to tell […]
There is a singer everyone has heard, Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird, Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again. He says that leaves are old and that for flowers Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten. He says the early petal-fall is past When pear and cherry bloom went down in […]
The past 28 hours have been filled with driving…Austin to Fort Worth, Fort Worth to Austin, south Austin to north Austin, north Austin to south Austin. Plus some great conversations, and some interesting podcasts. I choose the podcasts I do in part because I like to think—the makers bring up topics that frequently start my […]
One idea is that spending the day getting from here to there* will offer plenty of time for reflection, and thus plenty of opportunity to write interesting things. Another idea is that moving through unfamiliar spaces after sleeping inadequately on unfamiliar beds will steal most of the available cognitive energy. Not to mention waiting for […]
God keeps things interesting. Back in June I joined in a study of the book of Ruth at my church, right? A short thing, four weeks, chapter a week. I used to read Ruth routinely in my youth, when I was too old to be allowed to bring secular books to worship but too young […]
“Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.” —E.E. Cummings, from his introduction to New Poems -or- enfolded into Poems: 1923-1954 Cummings is one of my cornerstones. Mostly for the inventiveness within his poems—you can see his profound influence on my work in any of my poems—but also for his odd epigrams. They’re […]
…the idea being that I would set them up, then knock them down. Let’s see… Today, in no especial order: one, two, three Silver Award explanation emails one set of parents to airport one hour-long workout one set of shiny toenails one batch of business cards retrieved one insurance claim reply one extensive, futile rummage […]
I can’t say, after living my adult life alongside the Internet (pre- and post-webs), that I am surprised that this mashup occurred. But I am grateful that someone took the time to bring two of my preferred entertainments together in one place: I bet it never occurred to you, did it? Me, on the other […]
When we get our spiritual houses in order, we’ll be dead. This goes on. You arrive at enough certainty to be able to make your way, but it is making it in darkness. Don’t expect faith to clear things up for you. It is trust, not certainty. The Habit of Being, by Flannery O’Connor via […]
…plus c’est la même chose. https://thefederalistfreestyle.tumblr.com/post/162719827734/throwing-verbal-rocks ps: I love love love a phone keyboard for my multilingual life!
