Israel and Palestine: Whose Side Are You On?
Jan 4, 2024
2024
My early Jewish education was saturated with the idea that the existence of the State of Israel was a categorical imperative of both Jewish identity
Being a Woman Is Not a Punishment: What’s at Stake for Men in the Policing of Women’s Bodies
Dec 4, 2022
gender & 2022
I initially wanted to make this post about what’s at stake for men in the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade. Then, in September, women in
A Gratitude in Me That I Did Not Fully Appreciate at the Time
Aug 2, 2022
2022
I was scrolling through my photos the other day, looking for I-don’t-remember-what, when the picture I’ve cropped down to this image of my
Three Poems of Mine That Should Never Have Become As Relevant As They Are Now
Jun 16, 2022
writing & 2022
Sometimes you publish a poem in response to the current moment, whatever that may be, and then the moment passes, and the poem no longer feels as
Deciding Whether Something Should Be a Poem or an Essay
Jun 2, 2022
Writing & 2022
When I wrote a couple of posts ago about the writers who influenced me early on in terms of craft, I tried to focus on those aspects of making a
An Essay That Took Me More Than Thirty Years to Write Has Been Published!
Apr 11, 2022
my work & 2022
I am very excited that an essay it took me nearly thirty years to write, “The First Time I Told Someone,” was published earlier this month by
A Provocation: Christianness (Not Christianity) Is to Jews and the People of Other Non-Christian Religions As Whiteness Is to People of Color
Apr 7, 2022
jewish & 2022
Last year, at the end of a meeting I attended, the presiding officer, a Jewish woman, in the process of wishing attendees happy holidays and happy
From “The Necessity to Speak,” by Sam Hamill
Apr 6, 2022
poetry & 2020
“The true poet gives up the self. The I of my poem is not me. It is the first person impersonal, it is permission for you to enter the experience
Reading Mark Nowak’s “Social Poetics:” Thinking About the First Tuesdays Cento and A ‘Flipped Script’ Poetry Reading
Apr 6, 2022
poetry & 2020
I’m just a single chapter into Mark Nowak’s Social Poetics—the chapter is called “A People’s History of the Poetry Workshop: Watts, New York City,
My Year Long Writing Project
Apr 6, 2022
poetry & 2020
So. Thinking it would help prod me to start blogging regularly again—and, specifically, to start blogging about all things poetry and writing—I
What Writers Have Influenced Your Work?
Mar 24, 2022
my work & 2022
I don’t think I’ve read an interview with a writer where the interviewer did not ask some version of this question. In responding to John
What I’ve Been Thinking About Ukraine
Mar 7, 2022
jewish & 2022
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine casts its long shadow over everything I do these days, even the small, mundane moments, like washing the dishes
When Did You Start Writing?
Jan 15, 2022
my work & poetry & 2022
In March of 2020, just before the pandemic shutdown, I received from John Wisniewski the first two of the seven or eight questions that would
My Pandemic Reading List
Jul 21, 2021
2021 & reading
It’s been nearly eighteen months since the pandemic shutdown began last March. One of the ways I’ve managed to stay sane, along with the nightly—or
Thirteen Thoughts About Palestine, Israel, and Antisemitism
Jun 11, 2021
2021 & jewish
Anyone who knows anything about how not just the presence of Jewish human beings, but also the mere idea of Jews and Judaism, have been experienced
Craft Talk 3: Quincy Troupe’s Rhythm
Apr 19, 2021
2021 & poetry
I’ve been reading The Architecture of Language, by Quincy Troupe, and I have been fascinated by how rhythm and syntax interact in the way he builds
The Music I’d Like to Put Back Into My Life
Dec 26, 2020
my work & 2020
Those are my hands over the keys at the grand piano that stood in the parlor of the dorm I lived in when I attended Edinburgh University in the
The Way Academia Is Supposed to Work
Dec 22, 2020
my work & education & union issues & 2020
I can’t believe I’m writing this at 3:30 AM. I woke up about a half hour ago from a very disturbing dream, in which the character with whom I
Publication News: Three New Poems in Two Lovely Publications
Nov 26, 2020
my work & 2020
You’d think that being shut in during the pandemic would have left me enough time to keep this website up-to-date, right? Hah! I should, for
Medical Culture and Its Effects on Doctors and Patients
Oct 29, 2020
events & 2020
On the evening of October 22, I had the pleasure of moderating a reading and discussion with two fine writers, Dr. Zinaria Williams and Elizabeth
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