April was a good month for me for reading. I devoured two publications that experiment with form and structure: the novel Ducks, Newburyport and the online magazine Pipewrench. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Ducks, Newburyport is a 1,000-page sentence. Pipewrench magazine is structured like a dinner party: the main essay is the … Continue reading What makes a work of art resonate?
Yesterday, I wrote not one 10-minute write, but two free writes of I don’t know how much time, one in the morning, and one at the end of the day. For the first time in ages, I was excited to scatter thoughts on a page: not for a purpose, not for a blog post. Just … Continue reading A pretty journal and I’m writing again
There’s a Dar Williams song, “Mark Rothko Song,” that affects me. I have listened to it over and over again over the past ten years, and though I never knew who or what it was about there is something about this song that makes my heart shift every time I hear it, that makes me … Continue reading Everything I need to know about creative spaces I learned from the art on Mad Men
From the podium, I looked out into an audience of about 60 people. Their eyes focused on me, and from their facial expressions – a smile in the second row, fascination in the fourth – I saw that they were absorbed. Nobody sipped coffee, or coughed. Nobody shifted position. I continued reading. “The air was … Continue reading Sometimes, pretty is enough
Wake butterfly – it’s late, we’ve miles to go together. – Basho I am with you, Basho, awakening to life. – me The Day 8 prompt for Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem A Day challenge was “write back to a dead poet.” I knew instantly that I would write to Basho, the only dead poet whose … Continue reading How haiku saved me from a mid-life crisis
Butterfly Mind 