women
A powerful woman on powerlessness
Harper invites us to imagine the complete and utter powerlessness of people on the slave block, particularly of mothers. Defenseless, unheeded, bitter, frail, shrinking, mournful, desolate. The adjectives heap misery on misery.
MoreMirror, mirror on the wall, who is the saddest of them all
Mirror by Sylvia Plath I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful ‚ The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It […]
MoreTinder for poets
On a fall day in New York City I left a poem in Central Park . . . poem is on bench under orange sign Women and Horses by Maxine Kumin “After Auschwitz, to write a poem is barbaric.” -Theodor Adorno After Auschwitz: after ten of my father’s kin— the ones who stayed—starved, […]
MoreOnce wild, once young, still wandering
Among Women by Marie Ponsot What women wander? Not many. All. A few. Most would, now & then, & no wonder. Some, and I’m one, Wander sitting still. My small grandmother Bought from every peddler Less for the ribbons and lace Than for their scent Of sleep where you will, Walk out […]
MoreBrave hearts in burqas
The last thing we need is one more national themed day or month that no one cares about or notices. But after reading the New York Times magazine this past Sunday, I’m going to suggest a new one. As I noted last week, April 26 is “Put a Poem in Your Pocket Day.” The following day […]
MoreA Preposterous Preoccupation
To write my last post I had to look up the cast of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. I came across an amusing bit from the script. Terry Thomas, playing his usual upper-crust Englishman equal parts outraged and dastardly, serves up this rant on an American obsession: “As far as I can […]
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