“It takes a lifetime to learn shakuhachi. The earlier you start, the longer it takes.”(Japanese saying quoted by Zac Zinger on Adam Neely’s podcast. The shakuhachi is a bamboo flute.) I learned Spanish because I had to. From puberty forward … Continue reading
A correspondent said she was reading a “virago book.” I said. “Is it by, or about, one?” It turns out Virago is a distinguished publishing house. As if on cue, this informative review of Lennie Goodings’s memoir appears. Virago started … Continue reading
[XCV]¿Quiénes se amaron como nosotros? BusquemosWho else has loved like us? Let us seeklas antiguas cenizas del corazón quemadothe ancient ashes of the burnt hearty allí que caigan uno por uno nuestros besosand there let our kisses fall one by … Continue reading
The painter William Bailey died in April, 2020, aged 89. He taught for many years at the Yale School of Art, and is said to have influenced generations of students. In 2010, Bailey decried the amount of “noise” present in … Continue reading
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… If a clodbe washed awayby the sea,Europeis the lessas well as ifa promontory were,as well as ifa manor of thy friendsor thine ownwere… In free verse, are line breaks the product of daemonic possession? Sovereign whim? Delphic insight into … Continue reading
If there’s something that can be called a Beethovian gravitas assumable by a sculptor who is female, artist Maggi Hambling is a contender. That’s by way of an admiring aside to the topic of this article. “Luxuriantly bushed,” “obligingly passive,” … Continue reading
[XCVI]Pienso, esta época en que tú me amasteI think this epoch in which you loved mese irá por otra azul sustituida,will go away, replaced by a blue one,será otra piel sobre los mismos huesos,it will be another skin on the … Continue reading
For me, what elevates irony over sarcasm is a dose of humor. I like to imagine each member of this crew, sporting the same scruffy costume, doing the swivel-hip runway strut, flaunting a thousand-yard stare behind their John Lennon shades … Continue reading
EthicalDative must have a focus to offset my wandering attention. I try with mixed results to blog about art and language, and respond elsewhere and otherwise to the rest. An October 6th article about an appalling event has stayed in … Continue reading
Missionary Phallacy
Shere Hite (1942-2020) published “The Hite Report” in 1976. It gathered candid feedback from women suggesting canonical sexual congress was not the be-all and end-all prescribed by male-centric orthodoxy. Two more best-selling studies followed in 1981 and 1987. Hite’s work … Continue reading →