I am heading down the homestretch of Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.  I'm curious if any of you have read it and what you thought. Twenty years ago, I read The Satanic Verses and was bowled over by Rushdie's fluent way with dialects.  It reminded me of Twain and Huck Finn. I then went through … Continue reading Midnight’s Children

PGregory Springer doesn't approve of what I do with movie reviews.  A couple days ago I wrote about Anthony Lane's review of Darren Aronofsky's Mother!  I quoted Lane's description of a silly scene of a poet plying his craft.  The "nimbus of nonsense" that Lane described confirmed my intuition that this movie was one that … Continue reading What Does A Movie Review Do?

The odometer is all nines and we're about to roll over into a new year.  Good. I wish I could say I'm leaving 2017 wiser than I began it, but it wouldn't be true.  The world seems more mixed up and incomprehensible than ever. This fall I watched Lynn Novick's documentary on the Vietnam War.  … Continue reading Rolling

For me, a good poem is like putting on glasses for the first time.  Suddenly something that seemed vague and blurry clicks into focus.  Details become clear and make sense and you say, "Aha! So that's what they're talking about." A good movie review from Anthony Lane does that for me.  I love movies and … Continue reading What Does Poetry Do?

I'm seceding from Facebook and taking control of where I direct my attention. Should I think of something interesting to say, I'll say it here.  Should I find something interesting that someone else wrote, I'll post a link to it here.  Should I become inebriated and start writing poetry, I'll post it here. At least … Continue reading Hello