2021 in Reading: The Big List

Everything I read in 2021 in a big list. Does what it says on the tin.

Come again, be again

A collection of loosely-associated thoughts on permanence.

S’Notes

Just thinking a lot about how I organize my thinking in general these days.

The Absence of Poetry

If we could just—just stop. For one year. If everybody could stop publishing their poems. No more. Stop it. Just—everyone. Every poet. Just stop. But of course that’s totally unfair to the poets who are just starting out. This may be their “wunderjahr.” This may be the year that they really find their voice. And … Continue reading The Absence of Poetry

Nesting and Turning

My working theory is that the silence and the sunshine and the singing are key materials of the nest I am always building, to hold whatever thoughts, feelings, rhythms, and ideas become my poems. Tara writes a monthly guest column on Nicole‘s blog. Every installment holds several gems, but her latest is particularly gemful. The … Continue reading Nesting and Turning

The Ritual is the Cab

There’s a paragraph from Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit that lodged firmly in my brain when I first read it in college. (I loaned my copy of the book to a friend years ago and it was only recently returned it to me, so this is the first chance I’ve had to go back and … Continue reading The Ritual is the Cab

2020 in Reading: The Big List

The landing outside our bedrooms is tiny—barely big enough for one person to stand alongside the single floor vent that’s supposed to heat the entire upstairs. But! There’s enough wall space for two tall pieces of paper, so that’s where Zina and I have kept our reading lists since 2015. I’ve never really gotten into … Continue reading 2020 in Reading: The Big List

Strange, Familiar Seas

Lessons from a man who swims in the sea every night—and then tweets about it.

The Infinite Carrier Bag

Ursula K. Le Guin’s written worlds, and the ways they bring us back to ourselves.

Literary Archipelagos

Last week, in a moment of Peak Bellwood Weakness I signed up for an online class/study group called Literature at Sea: A Brief History of Existence. The facilitator shared something in today’s intro call that I can’t believe nobody sent me when it was released back in July. It’s called An Ocean of Books and … Continue reading Literary Archipelagos