“Rule #11: I know that these rules will inevitably result in contradictions, conflicts, hypocrisy, and stress rashes.” —Sherman Alexie Yesterday Sherman Alexie wrote a marvelous response to a controversy about one of the poems he chose for Best American Poetry 2015–a poem ostensibly written by a Chinese poet, who turned out to be …
The nights are cricketful lately, savory fire in the good clean air. September, you just beg a backyard fire and making some music with my love. I asked Rob for “Wild Horses” and he went and learned it that very day. The children slept upstairs and we sat out back and made this little recording.
Originally appeared in ImageUpdate, a publication of IMAGE Journal. The Lamentations of “Indian Education” Report to the Department of the Interior by Diane Glancy Diane Glancy’s new book of poetry Report to the Department of the Interior reads less like a collection and more like a path walked through the harsh landscape-story of “Indian education,” a governmental and missionary project to …
A couple of sad songs for summer’s end. And a benediction on the cusp of fall: May your September be savory, refreshing all that needs refreshing. PS These were recorded on an iPhone… after practicing them, oh, three times or so. It’s music for the joy of it. “Sarah” (Bob Dylan) Vocals and guitar: Eli …
Originally appeared in ImageUpdate, a publication of IMAGE Journal. Wonder Rooms by Allison Funk Let’s start here: “bestiary” is a wonderful word. To begin with the superficial, it is fun to say, beautiful in the mouth. Now deeper: the medieval makers of bestiaries, cataloguing animals both real and mythical, were mixers—art-with-text; mermaids-with-marmots; the scientific impulse to …
Originally appeared in ImageUpdate, a publication of IMAGE Journal. Winged: New Writing on Bees edited by Melissa Reeser Poulin and Jill McKenna Reed “A single bee’s life’s work amounts to a quarter teaspoon of finished honey,” writes Craig Goodworth in his prose-poem “The Hive.” “The Bulgarian army, having run short of medical supplies, dressed wounds with …
A little musical Christmas present. Singing here with the poet Elijah Burrell. Enjoy.
They’re kind of like monks, is what I usually tell people. They wear the brown robes, they pray four times a day, they bake bread. But this doesn’t say it all, not even close. It doesn’t say what they’re really about or who they are or what they mean to me–these guys in brown robes …
Viola and voice: June Gervais. Coos and grunts: Milo, one month old. I first learned “Little Beggar Man” at age 18, from a Clancy Brothers album I listened to about a hundred times in a row on the five-hour drive between Long Island and Vermont. I loved it because it was fast and …
This week brought two great joys. My second son, Milo, was born. Big healthy fella: just a drop shy of 9 lbs., a shade short of 22″. And on the day we brought him home from the hospital, I had a surprise in my mailbox: copies of my first long-form print publication. My novella, A Fortune, appears …