“February” by Margaret Atwood
February Winter. Time to eat fatand watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,a black fur sausage with yellowHoudini eyes, jumps up on the bed and triesto get onto my head. It’s hisway of telling… Continue Reading
“Make your soul grow” – Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to high schoolers
Back in 2006, an English teacher at Xavier High School in New York City gave her students an unusual assignment. Ms. Lockwood asked them to write letters to their favorite authors, inviting each to visit… Continue Reading
“somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond” by E. E. Cummings
somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyondany experience, your eyes have their silence:in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,or which I cannot touch because they… Continue Reading
“You should appear less often in my dreams” by Anna Akhmatova
You should appear less often in my dreams You should appear less often in my dreams,Since we meet so frequently;Yet only in night’s sanctuaryAre you sad, troubled, and tender.And sweeter than seraphic praiseIs your lips’… Continue Reading
“A History of the Night” by Jorge Luis Borges
A History of the Night Through the course of generationsmen brought the night into being.In the beginning were blindness and dreamand thorns which gash the bare footand fear of wolves.We shall never know who fashioned… Continue Reading
“Journal, Day Three” by Kazim Ali
Journal, Day Three Poetry and Painting On a cloudy day, at the ocean, staring out at the horizon, one can see two things. That the earth does curve. And that the place at which the… Continue Reading
“There are those who pass” by Alice Ruiz
There are those pass There are those who passand everything happenswith steps already taken there are those who leavefrom stone to glassleave everything broken and there is, thankfully,those who leavethe vague impressionto have stayed .… Continue Reading
“The Puppet” by Johnny Welch
The Puppet If for a moment God would forget that I am a rag doll and give me a scrap of life, possibly I would not say everything that I think, but I would definitely… Continue Reading
My Favorite Books — a list by Joan Didion
The late writer and journalist Joan Didion was easily one of the finest wordsmiths of her era—inspiring the next generation as well. Author Zadie Smith remembers encountering Didion’s writing for the first time. She remarked,… Continue Reading
The 13 Virtues of Benjamin Franklin
In his new book, Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever, Gavin Edwards uncovers the real story behind the gentle everyman, Fred Rogers. Most interesting to me was a list that… Continue Reading