I find much of Thoreau's writings a statement of decay: physical and spiritual. Even with a dead horse, Thoreau finds solace though he must cover his nose with a handkerchief. Let the vultures dig … [Read more...]
The Yoke of Duty: Of Caregiving and Middlemarch
As strong a force as love is, it only got me through the first time I thought my husband was dying. It turned out the motivation that really stuck, what kept me going through the rigors of caregiving, … [Read more...]
Lucien Stryk: Zen in the art of translating Zen poetry
Once someone can leave aside the narrowminded attitude, a parallelism with the cultural outcome of the long-gone “counterculture”, and a few more notions considering guidelines for every-day … [Read more...]
Between Something and Nothing: Franz Marc’s Authorial Ether
A painter and writer who was born and lived most of his life in Bavaria, Franz Marc was one of the key protagonists in the great European debate on the nature and the goals of art at the beginning of … [Read more...]
The Sons of Anak: Henry David Thoreau and John Brown
The Sons of Anak Concord, Massachusetts – Fall 1859 “It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.” — Journal, October 4, 1859 On September 5, 1859, Concord was … [Read more...]
Anything Can Happen: Bruno Sourdin in conversation with Gary Cummiskey
Bruno Sourdin is a French poet and collagist. He was born in 1950 in the Mont-Saint-Michel area. After studying journalism in Paris, he travelled in Morocco, Egypt, and India. He now lives in … [Read more...]
Aldous Huxley’s Dianetic Utopia
In 1950, shortly after launching the dianetic movement that would eventually become known as Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard paid a visit to the house of noted English author, Aldous Huxley, who at that … [Read more...]
Negative Capability: Keats and Buddha
The relationship of Buddhism and the poetic process is a sublime yet unexplored topic among Western scholars. It’s about the silent space between the words, not just the word itself. The poet John … [Read more...]
Secret of the Masters: An Interview with Poet Edward Field
This interview was conducted in September 2016 and first published, along with the poem "Secret of the Masters," the next month in the now-defunct Eris Magazine. The poem "Doggy Love" is published … [Read more...]
“My Friend the Censor”: Henry Miller, Huntington Cairns, and Tropic of Cancer
In September 1934 the American writer Henry Miller, age 42, had published in Paris his autobiographical novel Tropic of Cancer. In that same month, 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in … [Read more...]
Henry and Me
I first heard of Henry Miller, perhaps fittingly, when I lived with two other guys in East Vancouver. One of the guys had a friend who was a postman, the other guy was having an affair with the … [Read more...]
Taking the Poet at his Word: Editing the Poems of T. S. Eliot
When T. S. Eliot summed up his life’s work in 1963, two years before he died, it was in a Collected Poems of fewer than 250 pages. But when Christopher Ricks and I published The Poems of T. S. Eliot … [Read more...]
“I am a deserter” — Marcel Duchamp
“I am a deserter” - Marcel Duchamp I looked out the window. The leaves were turning yellow… turning towards death … or turning towards resurrection … No. Death … Duchamp said when we die … [Read more...]
Endgame (May you live in interesting times – Chinese Curse)
I walked out of the bookstore, grateful for fresh air. I looked up a poster announcing an upcoming reading by Karl Ove Knausgård. I turned my head and looked at The Gluten-Free Bakery next … [Read more...]
Concealing The Light From The Lit
" … the milieu of chess players is far more sympathetic than that of artists." A man at The Remainders Table was pointing at my sketchbook. " … huh?…" "… I have come to the personal … [Read more...]
Joys and Ticks: A Thank You to Joyce Carol Oates
In seventh grade, I was assigned to choose a favorite “famous old person.” As part of a cross-discipline project blending science, social studies, and art, we were to make apple-head dolls of the … [Read more...]
Remembering Federico García Lorca
Ask for lights and bells. / Learn to cross your hands, / to taste the cold air / of metals and of cliffs. A Spanish poet and playwright associated with avant-garde surrealism, Federico García Lorca … [Read more...]
Is Southern Art a Thing?: Thoughts from a Technically Southern Arts Writer
When I woke up this morning in Nashville, I checked, as I routinely do, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Times. When I went to the coffee shop next to my apartment, I encountered more people from … [Read more...]
My meeting with Paul Bowles in Tangier, 1980
In June of 1980 my manuscript submission had won me a place in the School of Visual Arts pilot program of study with writer/composer Paul Bowles in Tangier, Morocco. At the time of my acceptance … [Read more...]
The Middle Word in Life: Dennis Hopper and Rudyard Kipling’s “If”
Actor, director, and artist Dennis Hopper staged performances of British poet Rudyard Kipling's "If" throughout his career. In Kipling's original poem, the voice is that of a father offering prudent … [Read more...]