A Satisfying Morning
More wonder in this wonder-filled world: the book beneath The Gift in my second-cup-of-coffee stack* turned out to be Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds, edited by Neil Astley and Pamela Robertson-Pearce, and the next poem presented for my…
The Gift of Art
My morning included a small scale existential crisis. Robert Bly’s Looking for Dragon Smoke, a book of essays on poetry, was at the top of today’s reading stack, and by the time I finished section three of the first essay,…
Questions or Answers: Take Your Pick
It seems to me that art is about asking questions. Science, on the other hand, is about chasing answers and then clinging to them. Science should be about asking questions, and many of us are programmed to believe it is,…
What Are You Being Asked?
I see without glasses now (both literally and figuratively), so when I reread Jane Hirshfield’s poem, “Muslin,” it hit differently than the first time I encountered it, maybe about a year ago. The poet’s words lead me to notice new…
Answer Me This
—A; —42; —3 hours; —the blue one; —true; —false We are assured the correct answers will get us through liferelatively unscathed. But where is that third-grade teacherwhen the doctor says it’s cancer? Is “A” really the right response when your…
A Team Sport
Ideas about greatnessraise a racket andspin over the netlike a fuzzy green ball. Your serve.My return.Charge the net.Mind the baseline.Run. Hit. Win. Or lose. Just a game against a friendly opponent? Turns out I was trying to beat myself—in league…
The Way It Is
There’s a thread you follow. It goes amongthings that change. But it doesn’t change.People wonder about what you are pursuing.You have to explain about the thread.But it is hard for others to see.While you hold it you can’t get lost.Tragedies…
Before the Lips Go Still
I don’t know how or when it happened, but at some point in life, I began to let myself have my own opinions. I reached a point at which I became okay with not liking something I was told I…
A Story Told from Sanborn to Zusak
(Bookcase Inspiration) Fools Crow about how they’re Educated, and it’swithin The Art of Possibility, but I wonder ifthey’ve merely been indoctrinated at The Devil’s Pleasure Palace.Might we be dealing with A Confederacy of Dunces, whosuspend Rules of Civility and build…
Imperfect Writing is Better than No Writing
To Cheryl— An afternoon of poetry is always a special day. Thank you for the special day. Best Wishes, Ted Borrillo I find that inscription, dated, May 16, 1996, on the first page of Beyond Loneliness: Poems by Theodore A.…
Sharing an Apple
Poet Jane Hirshfield is new to me. Robert Bly is the one who introduced us, in his book, Looking for Dragon Smoke, and although I knew Bly’s name, I had paid it no attention (perhaps because none of my college…
Earth and Sky
Ray Bradbury published (according to the Internet search I just did) more than 30 books, 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays. There is simply no doubt that the man was a writer and knew what he was…
