Not the selves we ordered, but the ones received. So it went with those that got us — the trick of not caring for who you be is handed down. Each tiny burden of wiped snot is a pair of … Continue reading
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Once upon a time (Érase una vez…, they say in Spanish), I couldn’t conceive of settling for less than being a published poet. I was too callow and unstable, however, to give the project sustained hard work. I’m content now … Continue reading
If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? And what would you want to know?It seems to me that the author plays a kind of secondary role in this whole business of literature. Authors are … Continue reading
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I’ve little practice handwriting Arabic. Even less am I schooled in the monastic rigors of calligraphy. I do confess to an effort to “draw” Arabic. My models are the characters as they appear in printed texts. I savor their swoops … Continue reading
A YouTube personality named Isla Rose candidly discusses her male-to-female transition experience, both the affective and the clinical sides. She remarks how the related hormone therapies can diminish responsiveness in intercourse; she must be “very interested” in what’s going on … Continue reading
(Continued from https://ethicaldative.com/2022/01/22/pronoun-rebellion-1/) Wallace Stevens said of his poem “On an Old Horn” that, if he had succeeded in saying what he had to say, the reader would get it. “He may not get it at once, but, if he … Continue reading
It’s apparent that contributors to Poetry magazine compose their own biographical snapshots, which allows for a gamut of voicings and modes of self-assertion. A grammar nerd notices how these established and establishing technicians of the word mold language to their … Continue reading
Proliferation of phrases: — A turn of speech makes my point vividly — I’ll use it. But this other phrase is pungent — I’ll use it too. Yet another is incisive; and one is innovative; and one wry; this one … Continue reading
<p. 137> “World Breaking Apart” by Louise Glück (“Poems 1962-2012,” 2012) I don’t care if this post is preposterously long. It’s a barbaric yawp anyway. My original title for a comment about “World Breaking Apart” was “Inconclusive Antecedence.” It was … Continue reading
EthicalDative 
Cosmic Cheese
The world / was whole because / it shattered. When it shattered, / then we knew what it was. “Formaggio” is Italian for “cheese.” The poem so titled is in Louise Glück’s book Vita Nova. On first reading I experienced … Continue reading →