“Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the […]
Ten Reasons to Visit Your Local Poetry Slam Read More »
For me, the act of writing is like drinking from a tinted blue glass filled with clear, cold water, the sides of the glass condensation-streaked with ice shards clinking against the heat of a summer day. The experience is waxing organic, like a growth in the soul. Phrases appear as exotic plant sprouts, joining together
The first time Benny Goodman heard Bix Beiderbecke play cornet, he recalled, he wondered, “My God, what planet, what galaxy, did this guy come from?” (Skretvedt). Listening to him throughout my life, I’ve had the same feeling. So did hundreds of musicians who heard Bix during his short lifetime, and so have thousands of listeners
Like a Girl Saying Yes: The Sound of Bix Read More »
Everything does not happen for a reason. The notion that it does is a self-centered human fantasy based on limited, exclusionary knowledge. It helps people deal with immense uncertainties beyond their powers of perception. They’re staggering through life blind to their actual nature. The concept of “a reason” only exists for humans. When you remove
Everything Does Not Happen for a Reason Read More »
When Streetcar520 closed for indoor dining in March of 2020 due to statewide COVID-19 restrictions, owner Ari Knaup faced an intense battle for the restaurant’s survival. Streetcar was her invention, as much a work of art as it was a dining establishment. Three large, colorful murals of women adorned the walls, each one portraying a
Saving Streetcar520 Read More »
We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every
Aldous Huxley on the Solitude of Experience Read More »