My Pandemic Reading List Jul 21, 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 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 20, 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 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 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 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 30, 2020 events 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 Antisemitism Has Always Been a Part of My Life - 1 Oct 26, 2020 jewish (I wrote the original version of this post at least four years ago, but events of the last couple of years, along with what I wrote in my last post My Response to The Erasure of Antisemitism in Namrata Poddar’s Article in the Recent Issue of Poets & Writers Oct 13, 2020 poetry & race & jewish In an article called ”Return to the MFA: A Call for Systemic Change in the Literary Arts”, which Poets & Writers published in its September/October Lines That Didn’t Make The Cut: Sometimes It’s Just a Big Mess Aug 5, 2020 poetry & my work I don’t remember where the first two lines of this came from, but somehow it ended up being a very long poem spoken mostly by a woman deciding to from “The Lines That Antisemitism and Racism Draw” Aug 1, 2020 jewish Today is Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Consolation. Last year at this time, I was on a family vacation in Europe, sitting in our host’s dining Reading “The Veil and The Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam,” by Fatima Mernissi Jul 27, 2020 islam & religion & quotes I read Mernissi’s book some years ago, and it was an instructive journey into my own ignorance about Islam, particularly about an aspect of that Commonplace Question #2: Are The Poems Part of a Conversation? Jul 24, 2020 my work & poetry & commonplace questions This question, from Commonplace episode #2, Rachel’s interview with Nick Flynn, brought me back to a conversation I had with a friend named Ellie from “Pluralism and Its Discontents: The Case of Blacks and Jews,” by Cheryl Greenberg Jul 20, 2020 jewish & race & quotes Twenty five years or so ago, not too long after I first started teaching at the college where I am still a professor, one of my colleagues—the woman from Male Lust Jul 13, 2020 quotes Because a privileged man’s life is “unremarkable,” he is less likely to know how his social position affects his life. A “white” man knows he is from Male Lust Jul 6, 2020 quotes “Think of a judicial system that not only favors heterosexuality but reserves its favor for specific types of heterosexuality: not S/M—that could Lines That Didn’t Make The Cut: Ruth’s Story Jul 1, 2020 my work & poetry It wasn’t like I showed him anything he hadn’t seen before. Besides, he took the ones with clothes, the good ones, only if I did a few from the Commonplace Question #1: How Did You Become a Poet? Jun 28, 2020 my work & poetry & commonplace questions I’ve been listening to Rachel Zucker’s Commonplace podcast for about two and a half years now. If you don’t know it, it’s definitely worth checking The Ethics of Bearing Witness in Poetry to Violence and Trauma Jun 13, 2020 my work & poetry The issues raised when one chooses to make literary art out of trauma are complex. Over at the Ploughshares blog, for example, Tracy Strauss has a If You Read Rumi in English, Read This New Yorker Article Jun 5, 2020 iran & translation & poetry & islam & sufism Written by Rozina Ali, the article is called “The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi,” and it says something that Iranians I know have been