I Another book I would like to reread is Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo. I think of it now because I have realized that academic writing is easier than blogging. I started blogging to jump-start academic writing, but their relationship seems to have reversed itself. This might be a sign of success. My scholarly texts would … More Jazz Poem, Voodoo Aesthetics
I am reading a fascinating and also funny essay by a scholar who spent most of her life working on the poet of my book manuscript on hiatus. It recounts the misadventures that work on this poet – who might be a shade, might be a vampire, might be an arsonist or a murderer, or … More The Idea of Order at Key West
Back to Shahrazad III At dinner that night I discovered that the past week’s FARC attack had taken place just outside Pasto. As a left leaning, petit bourgeois intellectual I do not know what to feel, someone said. The FARC are excellent guerrillas, we really like them. Usually nothing happens anyway, the boys just come … More Shahrazad IV
Back to Shahrazad II Tupac drove us to a gated and heavily guarded compound. Inside the white walls were a lawn, a restaurant, and a number of pavilions. This was the club of the Bank of the Republic, where we were to stay. Official and fancy though it was, its nighttime attendant seemed a bit … More Shahrazad III
Back to Shahrazad I About a week after the phone call, or the dream, a fax arrived from the Bank of the Republic of Colombia: we urgently need the title of your lecture. So now I phoned. It seemed I was to cancel my regular classes for a week to participate in a symposium at … More Shahrazad II
I can compose calmly and directly now instead of having my brain expand and pulsate in asymmetrical ways. And composition is craftsmanlike and pleasant. As it gets sharper, I can feel the synapses click and the blood run through the capillaries in my temples. I have more wind in my chest, and more space in … More Shahrazad I
By Karen Polster, via Zuky: The poems at Angel Island are among the most dramatic finds in American literature. The crumbling buildings of the former immigration station in San Francisco were scheduled to be demolished, when bits and pieces of Chinese writing were glimpsed behind the peeling paint. These characters turned out to be poetry, … More Poems at Angel Island
Arte de Amar Se queres sentir a felicidade de amar, esquece a tua alma. A alma é que estraga o amor. Só em Deus ela pode encontrar satisfação. Não noutra alma. Só em Deus — ou fora do mundo. As almas são incomunicáveis. Deixa o teu corpo entender-se com outro corpo. Porque os corpos se … More Manuel Bandeira
Regin Dahl (Tórshavn 1918-København 2007) will be buried in Tórshavn on the summer solstice. He was a piano player and composer with a strong tenor/baritone voice we can hear on the MySpace page someone has set up for him and us. He worked as an editor and proofreader, but is best known as a poet. … More Regin Dahl
Here is a new, self-tagging meme to entertain those of us who may be in Grading Jail. What college majors, other than the one(s) you actually declared, have you seriously considered or repeatedly fantasized about declaring? These are mine: Creative Writing Economics Environmental Studies Law Near Eastern Studies Studio Art / Ceramics. Also for Grading … More Other Majors, Other Worlds
coldhearted scientist وداد 