Notes

"But in its aimlessness, in its desperate commitment to the word, in its primal order of birth and rebirth, a poem remains the most general guarantee that we can still do something, that we can still do something against emptiness, that we haven't given...

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us 'the universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is...

I purposely veer away from writing about politics in my blogs; politics is fascinating to me, but this is not the forum where I want to discuss it. I only write to say that this last election made me think of the classic American ballad "Casey at the...

"Writing is wonderful when you talk about it. It's fun to contemplate. But writing as a daily physical activity is not agreeable. You put on weight, you strain your gut, you get gout and chilblains. You're alone, and every day you have to face a blank...