How maddening it was to our friend the mollusk to be subjected almost every day (and sometimes more) to the callous cliche that haunts a bi-valve’s life. Each time someone, oft-times fork in hand, thoughtlessly uttered the bitter oath, the mollusk would feel himself shrinking, shriveling inward, as if he could escape the narrative of...
The best time to think of thoughts untainted by prejudice or sorrow is in the twilight of consciousness, that murky fugue land situated between responsibility and fantasy, where the imperatives of earning and making and contributing fade into the purple black void of imagination. The best time to think of thoughts untainted by hatred or...
Because the center of the universe can be located easily the anthem I pen is naturally of me: I did this and I did that, throw in a semi-automatic rat-a-tat-tat — and now you’ve got a song for radio, Which rhymes conveniently with “ho,” a word to which I’m well accustomed, unlike instruments I’ve never...
If my father were around to see what has happened to my dog and me, he would smile, I reckon. That important types do beckon is a sign, you see, of achievement. And conveniently they pay the rent. If youngsters were inclined to glower at old thieves presently in power, we’d suffer less corruption....
The joyful noise that scrapes away the accretions of malaise that reliably accompany any life lived without privilege is a pitcher of aural nectar, poured directly to the soul, which, like oil to an engine, needs the sweet sounds of pain and joy and remorse and hope to function properly. You claim you cannot...
We were adults about the whole thing, saying the script learned well from years of practice and reading with spongy minds. It — the awful schism — was for the best as any self-help book, climbing up the bestseller list would have declaimed in tones of compassionate smugness. Yet no one wanted to go...
Bursting forth, saying in color and delicate shape that striving for the sun is worth the heartache, the petals of the plants, demure and bombastic, try for nothing more than survival. But in this effort their nonchalant beauty, which impresses thirsty birds and dust-covered bees as much or more than human admirers, reminds all who...
I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks to God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her...
Do you agree? Do you think this is true? Have you considered or are you offended or does this conform? When we say with certainty and a large (any word but “healthy”!) dollop of pomposity: Without health, we have nothing. Without health, abiding happiness is not possible. Without health, the pleasures of life seem muted...
When my friend from the rainforest visited the city, I couldn’t make him understand why the most important people in the tallest buildings were the most important people. No, I told him, they were not able to hunt or fish or grow their food, or build a hut from grass, or communicate with the spirit world.
I couldn’t make him understand what the most important people actually do to make themselves more important than the rest…
Writer, poet, artist, improviser, lyricist, former television personality, and generally decent person.
Two new vocal recordings — one from a likely source, the other not — remind us that genuine vocal artistry brings delight not quite like anything else. The human voice, malleable and expressive and colorful, vibrates with genuine (and profound) feeling on “Close Up,” by Sara Serpa, the celebrated singer, known for her angelic tone,...
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