Someone mentioned the pleasure of re-reading favorite books and that made me think of how often I return to certain touchstone volumes for emotional and literary sustenance. How certain reading experiences were seminal for me, impressed on me as strongly as peak life experiences. And so I reread a strange little collection of dog-eared volumes that seem not to even be on speaking terms with each other. My Family and Other Animals, Emma, The Writing…
It’s seldom you get to send a thank you note to a poet who’s been an inspiration and model for you to strive for a higher level of art, but today I had that chance, thanks to the wonderful blog Dear Mary. The brainchild of Julie L. Moore and Julie Brooks Barbour, the blog gives us the chance to write thank you notes to Mary Oliver. Mary is coping with illness at the moment —…
Susan Rich, over at The Alchemist’s Kitchen, has an interesting item up today. It’s about the process of working on a book, including a wonderful poem on that theme by W.S. Merwin. An exciting new multimedia project, including poetry, has been started at Kinship of Rivers. Wang Ping is a poet, writer, photographer, grant writer and fund-raiser, organizer for the trips and manager for the whole installation collaboration. Born in Shanghai, Wang Ping now lives…
As I’ve spent the last year and a half writing a novel, naturally I’ve devoured books and articles on the craft. But this article by Jessica Barksdale Inclan makes such sense out of a thorny (ouch! why are we doing it in the rosebushes?) question: how much to put into a scene involving sex and/or romance, and how to write on an age-old subject without sounding aged and old. Of course, the answer is age-old:…
With a lot of noise in the air about how much of a role religious values should play in our American democracy, I remembered writing a poem on the subject of Jefferson’s famous definition of “a wall of separation between church and state.” While it seems an unlikely topic for a poem, I had fun with it. Here it is, as originally published in Adirondack Review A ROAD TRIP I contemplate with sovereign reverence that…
Mary Oliver has announced that she was diagnosed with a serious illness and as a result has had to cancel all engagements. But she also said she’s healing and anticipates a full recovery. The news of her illness, however, hit a lot of people as a blow. For many — poets but also a large number of readers who are not poets — Mary Oliver’s work has sparked significant moments of spiritual epiphany, comfort, and…
The question was famously asked by former NEA Chairman Dana Gioia in a provocative essay some years ago. It does matter, it seems, in China, where a poem can get you arrested. That’s what happened to Zhu Yufu, a poet and dissident, who was arrested for a poem. At Camel Saloon, a Free Zhu Yufu site has been established and a petition started to urge authorities to free him and allow more free speech. It’s…
I was delighted to interview the fascinating poet Deema Shehabi for the current issue of Fringe Magazine about what it’s like to be a poet living in two worlds, the country of current residence, and the country of memory. Deema’s new book, Thirteen Departures from the Moon, is a transcendently beautiful collection centering on that dual identity and experience. Visit https://racheldacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.
Go to Paris. At least, that’s what worked to kickstart Colin Kelley’s first novel, according to this delightful essay. His first completed and published novel was born on a trip to Paris. I often find that traveling awakens my senses and sets me adrift into my interior space. My own just-completed novel THE RENAISSANCE CLUB, was born on a three-week art history tour of northern Italy. Even a short trip — say around the block…
I’ve spent the last year in the Italy of my mind … a remembered place that I couldn’t resist at first writing essays about, and finally using as the setting for a novel. To answer those who’ve asked what the book’s about, here’s a short summary: A month-long art history tour promises its organizer, middle-aged professor Norman Wesley, a new life of freedom from his abusive marriage and deadening career, but what he gets is…