Books and Ideas

House Finches House Finches

To watch the pair of house finches that frequent the neighbor's feeder, I leave the charcoal blinds pulled up. The berry-splashed chest of the male-- each morning--make...

Oct 5, 2000 / Books & the Arts / John Poch

Rereading Old Writing Rereading Old Writing

Looking back, the language scribbles. What's hidden, having been said? Almost everything? Thrilling to think There was a secret there somewhere, A bird singing in the heart'...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Ferry

Nocturnal Nocturnal

It is always among sleepers we walk. We walk in their dreams. None of us Knows what he is as he walks In the dream of another. Tell me my name . Your tongue is blurred, ho...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Ferry

from ‘That Evening at Dinner’ from ‘That Evening at Dinner’

By the last few times we saw her it was clear That things were different. When you tried to help her Get out of the car or get from the car to the door Or across the apartme...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Ferry

Horace: Ode I.11 Horace: Ode I.11

Don't be too eager to ask       What the gods have in mind for us, What will become of you,       What will become ...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Ferry

The Chair The Chair

The chair left out in the garden night all winter Sits waiting for the summer day all night. The insides of the metal arms are frozen. Over the house the night sky wheel...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Ferry

North of the Border North of the Border

One of the most haunting images in David Riker's film La Ciudad is of the New York City skyline seen from a work site miles away from midtown. There, a group of Hispanic dayworke...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Michael Ugarte

from ‘Mary in Old Age’ from ‘Mary in Old Age’

"I don't want to stay here. I want to stop it." Was "here" the nursing home? Was it the chair? The condition she was in? Her life? Life? The body? . . . ......

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / David Ferry

2000 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize 2000 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize

Of No Country I Know: New and Selected Poems and Translations represents a life's work in poetry. The component volumes did not meet with fanfare, yet the work is brilliant with ...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Mary Kinzie

Circus Maximus Circus Maximus

We don't have a TV at home, so we've missed the much-drubbed NBC Olympics coverage. So when a little friend of my son's said she'd been watching, I asked her if any of the event...

Sep 28, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Patricia J. Williams

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