May Swenson (1913-1989) was born in Logan Utah to a Swedish immigrant Mormon family, the eldest of ten children. After finishing college at Utah State University, she moved East, teaching at Bryn Mawr and several other universities. Well respected as a poet during her lifetime, she is known for her proclivity to closely align nature […]
Phenomenal Presence: Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin The books stacked by my bed may appear to be pliantly passive, but don’t be fooled: the daily jostling that rotates one to the top spot is a highly competitive challenge. Feelings have been hurt, I can sense it, when that slim volume of finely chiseled poetry gets usurped by, dare I say […]
Bio Luminescence and Other Wonders
The Ted site…I could spend days there. Billed as a collection of “inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers,” the range of topics offered is staggering. This video of David Gallo is a spectacular 5 minute exploration of “underwater astonishments.” Wow. I’ve watched it three times and I’m still not done: David Gallo […]
- Ideas
- ...
Luce Irigaray: Letting Be Transcendence
I am blessed with thoughtful, provocative and intelligent friends. And because this blog deals with the inchoate world where creativity occurs, I am particularly grateful for the ongoing inflow of ideas, insights, parallelisms, wisdom. Martin Dickinson, the poet whose poem about Sugimoto’s Sea of Japan photographs I posted here on June 25, also writes book […]
Hafiz: Tongue of the Invisible
Still under the spell of my friend Andrew’s message to me yesterday (see below), I’ve been thinking about the ecstatic poets, particularly the Sufi mystics—Rumi, Kabir, Omar Khayyam and my favorite, Hafiz. Hafiz, a 14th century Sufi poet from Persia, writes about longing for union with the divine. His work explores the nature of spiritual […]
- Transcendence
- ...
Translucent Awareness
The most profound shift I have had in weeks: Reading the weekly email message from my friend Andrew. Fresh from a journey to Peru under the tutelage of his shaman Don Diego, his message to me this morning transmutated some part of his “beyond language” experience into a form I could breathe into and recognize […]
The Schmooze Factor
One of my favorite bloggers is G, the genius behind Writer Reading. A few days ago she posted an extremely thought-provoking piece called Are Writers Ever Really Loners? that I have been mulling over ever since. She probes the often disruptive relationship between the “solitary” act of writing and the role of interacting with the […]
Wisdom from Ad Reinhardt
I read this posting on artist Jordan Wolfson’s blog, and I had to catch my breath. Oh my. Perhaps this one liner by the great Ad Reinhardt will move something in you too. Sanctuary is invisible.
A Moon Misbegotten: Theatre de la Jeune Lune To Close
I am devastated to learn that one of my favorite American theatre companies, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, is being forced to close. The Minneapolis company headed by theatrical visionary Dominique Serrand has been coming to Cambridge to collaborate with the American Rep Theatre for years. Their style is highly physical, visually stunning, with a […]
Hiroshi Sugimoto: Take Me There
The work of Hiroshi Sugimoto cannot be comprehended without having been experienced in the flesh. Every artist believes this about their work, but in some circumstances it goes beyond optimal and moves into the imperative. So it is with Sugimoto’s photographs. (I have included this reproduction as an indicator but not the thing itself.) The […]