a poem is a sermon
What good to write when so few have the time to do much more than nod and swipe me gone? Opinions vary, but to ramble on
without an audience seems wasted and sublime. Besides, what difference can a few short lines make when the world needs changing, not anon, but here and now, before the chance is gone?
There’s a pet theory of mine that says if you’re nine years old, having reached the third year of elementary school, and you don’t love to read and have at least some middling skills at it, your life is going to be from that point forward much simpler, much less colorful, and to no small degree, much more difficult. Maybe it’s because I started reading at four, and by the time I was in first grade I was reading at a 6th grade level (apparently, the point on the yardstick at least 50% of Americans find themselves).
I think it goes without saying that my life has been full of books. But reading goes beyond literature, doesn’t it? Newspapers, magazines, comic books, bumper stickers, cereal boxes, email, blog posts, novels, short stories, poetry, music scores, instruction manuals, they all come in formats other than what we traditionally call books. And honestly, most […]
Continue reading "4. Read a lot, forget most of what you read, and be slow-witted"
I will never deconstruct another poem in search of hidden metaphor, by line eviscerating some writer’s creation to satisfy some professor of mine. These exercises do not help the reader connect to what is said, or truly why in given circumstance one word is better, or how one’s own perspective may supply a wealth of […]
Based on an entry from my friend the juice, I’ve put together a few short lists, related to my earlier post on the College Board 101 Books Your Child Should be Reading. In no particular order … Ten Books I Wish I’d Never Read: (the second hardest category for me – after glad not to […]
Found this link at The Rage Diaries. Apparently the College Board (you know, the folks that gave us the SAT and ACT) has put together a list of 101 Great Books recommended to be read by those entering freshman year college. Well, it’s actually 101 novels, 19 miscellaneous (uncategorized and non-Fictional works), and various works […]
I’ve read you, T.S. Eliot, and one thing I don’t get is why between such lovely lines you’re such a pompous twit while sharing arcane references lost on non-scholar types you wail and moan the loss of myth with poncey, highbrow tripe it makes me wonder about schools that teach us to ensnare the young […]