Bob Hicok’s Michigan

Sometimes things come together in funny ways. I was just checking out my friend Adam’s blog for the first time and came across his link to Bob Hicok’s poem “A Primer,” on The New Yorker’s fiction and poetry page (from May 19). It starts with a view of that Michigan hand, and it [...]

Being from the Michigan Hand

While I realize that the body as map runs the risk of cliche in poetry (not that it’s always cliche, just that it can run that risk), the hand as the map of Michigan seems like a slightly different genre. Growing up here, holding up my hand and tracing the lines between my parents’ [...]

Deepstep Come Shining

I’ve been thinking a lot about voice in poetry, lately. Not in terms of a poet “finding” his or her voice – rather, I’ve been thinking of the way poems take on various voices, and I’ve been thinking about the way a single poem can interweave more than one voice. I’m interested in [...]

A Fine Memorial Day Weekend

It’s been a fine Memorial Day weekend, complete with a local baseball game Saturday, pot-luck with friends Sunday (including riotous card playing), and rhubarb crisp straight from the garden with Mom on Monday. The seventy degree weather didn’t hurt either.
I can’t help but think of my grandpa today, not just cause he was a [...]

Revisiting Brideshead Revisited

I’ve been feeling dissatisfied with my earlier Brideshead post, so I spent a bit of time looking into different perspectives on the novel. I found Joseph Hynes’ essay “Two Affairs Revisited” arguing at least partially successfully against my difficulties with the novel and showing other standpoints from which to approach the novel’s challenges.
Hynes contends [...]

Shaken Not Stirred

Last summer, Ben and I watched all six seasons of The Sopranos on DVD.  It was a brief but intense addiction.  By the time we got to the end of the run, I was ready for it to be over (black-out finale and all).
This summer’s equivalent:  Bond movies.  I’d never watched any, so we began [...]

From C.D. Wright’s Deepstep:

“He wanted to learn to play the piano by sitting on the brailled
score. It makes sense; playing with one hand, brailling with the
other is pretty inconvenient.”
I love this line, and I love what Wright does throughout Deepstep Come Shining with sight/loss-of-sight, memory, place and (perhaps most importantly) sound. This book-length poem’s deep musicality [...]

Meanwhile in Michigan…

While California judges overruled their state’s gay marriage ban (way to go CA!), some Michiganders aren’t exactly jumping with joy. I’m just sitting dumb with frustration over some of the local responses I’ve read, but my friend Anna has put together this rather articulate response to the matter (including how it’s being dealt with [...]

Brideshead Revisited II

Though Brideshead Revisited moves away from the life of Sebastian Flyte in its final section, I ultimately find him the most compelling part of the novel. Sebastian, with Charles, exemplifies both the euphoric heights of youth and youth’s unsustainable character. Sebastian begins as a charmed figure that brings a sense of Arcadia to all those [...]

Too Many Irons in the Fire…

…but just one turquoise kettle on the stove right now to make tea for my writing time [poetry] tonight.
I finished listening to Zadie Smith’s White Teeth yesterday (see earlier audio-book post) and finished reading Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisted earlier today. The point of this blog is to make me actually write something in response [...]