An Italian-American Writer & Poet with a Yankee Outsider Perspective
My only sunshine. You do make me happy. Dreaming of catching you in sun flower disks, and little peaked roofs, in giant mirrored faces that track across the sky. My sunshine, our sunshine, with as much potential as Houston, as … Continued
At the northern edge of Kauai, the most northwesterly of the main Hawaiian Islands, a point of land reaches out to a lighthouse. This is the Kilauea lighthouse. Once there were 14 lighthouses studding the rugged coast of Kauai, in … Continued
Let’s admit right from the start: this is not an obvious connection. Just as it’s not obvious that we, in our excessively individualistic and commercial mindset, will notice and shift in time when disaster is barreling down on us. … Continued
“It is a truth universally acknowledged… So begins Jane Austen’s divine novel “Pride and Prejudice.” Austen’s satiric pen turns like a double-edged knife toward the reader and the characters in her novel. Let’s try that tactic: It’s a truth universally … Continued
What do we care? Muscling tight corners in our SUVs. Legislators gleefully firing climate scientists at state college. Playing with our hand-helds while the Rockies go up in flames. We’re hanging by a thread. Just imagine it. Thumbing our … Continued
One of my favorite movie moments is all about “we’re having a heat wave”–In the Seven Year Itch, Marilyn (the quintessential Marilyn, one of the greatest of all time) stands over an exhaust grate. It’s New York, circa 1955–air pours … Continued
I’m tempted to pull a Jonathan Swift* and champion a world where perfect lawns flow emerald green and uniformly clipped, from coast to coast, sea to sea. Where trees die by the millions, poisoned by IMPRELIS, a touted “green” herbicide … Continued
In Charleston when I was a girl, we used to sing, “Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the mor-r-r-r-ning?” Back then it was simply finer having frozen vegetables, from my mother’s cooking point of view. Sliced … Continued
When I first came to what we off-handedly call today “environmentalism,” I met the wonderful poems of N. Scott Mommaday. I am a feather in the bright sky, I am a blue horse that runs in the plains… (“The Delight … Continued
Well, not entirely reluctant. I “submit” my pre-formed letters protesting delisting this, fracking that. I contribute almost all the funds I allocate to “charity” to help hungry downtrodden people and protect global lands and seas from pollution, degradation, and ruin. … Continued