Featured Works: Week of Oct 5 (Biography)
Everyone has a story to tell, and through listening to them, we can learn a lot about other people’s dreams, emotions and experiences. This week’s contributors share pieces related to biography and autobiography. First, in her essay “Biography Year,” Margaret Montet takes an innovative look at what she learned from a year of reading biographies. William Miller’s poem, “Lowell’s Briefcase,” illuminates the last moments in the life of American poet Robert Lowell. “Talone’s Yard” by Amy Barone provides a vivid snapshot of childhood and...
Read MoreThe Higher Learning
The road north from the University town passed among fields and pastures. Along the way were one or two gas stations and a cluster of modest homes built for returning World War II veterans. I especially remember the cows that roamed the pastures, often close to the road. But more important to me, the road was plied by motorists willing to give a hitch-hiking college boy a lift. I was easily identified as a student by my books. I carried a loose-leaf binder with my needed books hooked to it. In those days, textbooks were modest in design and easily carried. On this one particular evening,...
Read MoreTalone’s Yard
The slight pear tree held my five-year-old curious-girl frame. Fall fell year-long. Ladybugs tempted and purified. Startled by a praying mantis, I dropped to my knees. A doorway in the hedge led me home. Years later, I finally learned to inhale. Half-smoked cigarettes dotted spots under the pines, where I also left my innocence. Baited by bases. Kissed by the sun. Sustained by drugstore candy and...
Read MoreLowell’s Briefcase
On the seat beside him, in the back of the taxicab where his heart finally stopped, was the briefcase he never lost. Unlike lovers, his great troubled mind, waking in the blue of shame, regret, a locked razor in his hand, this birthday present survived the man himself. More poems were inside, living fragments, lines, verses in a day book mixed with cigarettes, a pair of glasses. Red dust, rocks pushed up by an earthquake, an iron church bell, lines, sinkers, bloodstained hooks, the fisherman’s net was still there to cast on the widest water. His broken body, purple face, were taken away on...
Read MoreBiography Year
Twelve individuals were born in my mind last year. My project went like this: I read one biography each month—some from my pile of the unread, and some that I heard about during that year. The subjects of these biographies, living and dead, mingled in my mind and became defined by the people, places, and ideas that were important to them. They went from being two-dimensional faces with names attached, to characters with three-dimensional personalities. As I got to know them, they seemed to get to know each other, connecting on places and interests they shared. I mind-mapped each, and...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of Sep 28 (Survival)
In tough times, the resilience of the human spirit helps us to rise against the most difficult circumstances, whether it be war, childhood trauma, crime or natural disaster. This week’s contributors show us the wide range of coping mechanisms that help us to survive. In “Cohen’s Resurrection” by J.D. Chaney, set in post-World War II-era South America, an unlikely relationship forms along a path to redemption. “Black” by Don Stoll takes us on an adventure with a man who still struggles with childhood fears. “Cold” by Bob Blundell depicts the paralyzing...
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