When the night is good
So good that the inexorable march toward decrepitude pauses freezes stops
Time hitting an invisible wall of rightness —
Well, then, we must sing and dance and laugh and love
Certain that if life can be this fine
It surely must go on forever, never stopping, always flying, refusing to
Come down.
Today I’m delighted to announce my semi-retirement from writing. It’s been more than 30 years I’ve been doing this professionally, 20 years since my first book. Now it’s time to do something else.
For the people who care about my work, don’t worry. Writing will continue. These essay Thoughts will continue (probably) to be published sporadically. Poetry, too, in various journals and anthologies. And maybe another book or two. (I’ve got one finished and another…
Writer, poet, artist, improviser, lyricist, former television personality, and generally decent person.
The ethereal jazz singer Jeanne Lee would have been 80 this year. A re-release of her duet album with New England Conservatory titan Ran Blake, “The Newest Sound You Never Heard,” more than 40 years after its 1966-7 recording, reveals a thoroughly modern singer unafraid to sound like no one but herself. This vocal individuality...
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