An Italian-American Writer & Poet with a Yankee Outsider Perspective
Here in fly-over land we’ve had a beautiful spate of clear, sunshiny days, low humidity, fresh breezes. The last few days especially, the sky has looked like a clear polished gem winding us around a god’s finger. Monarchs arrived earlier … Continued
This morning in my usual way, I flung on a coat over my robe and went to the backyard, planning to spread seeds for the birds. There in the driveway where I’d been throwing handfuls of seeds all winter hunched … Continued
In the last week, the Christmas cactus by the computer has grown bright green shoots two and a half inches long. The light is changing, lengthening, and the wind is whirling. Long sticks of trees across the street sway like … Continued
First, it’s an island at the end of a chain of islands called the Florida Keys. Key stands for Cay, which I think is Spanish or Meso-American meaning small island. Second, and here you can imagine me actually speaking to … Continued
This line from the French poet Baudelaire (1857) is one of my favorite resorts to describe wafting on warmth and joy. All is ease–luxe, calme. All is indulgence–volupte. It’s rare to feel such untroubled ease in the midst of a … Continued
Though I supposed myself a serious graduate student, studying 19th-Century American Literature at Columbia, it now comes clear that I took away only one snippet from what that century had to offer–Emily Dickinson brief remark: A little bird walked down … Continued
In that dreamy mode when the mind brings up images as if from the deep, I imagine the swan as a ballerina, arching her beautiful long neck as she takes flight on her toes, her arms like slender graceful wings. … Continued
We found a comfy hideaway on the eastern side of Tucson, renting the next to smallest of six casitas (Spanish for little houses), called “Rain Dancer.” Second morning as I read to Fran from a new story-in-progress, the ceiling started … Continued
Wise Old Owl looks at various arguments pro and con about adding bird-friendly glass to the Vikings Stadium design, in Minneapolis, MN. * Item one: A Star Tribune editorial (Oct 18) has asked Wise Old to keep “bird deaths in … Continued
Late Summer Tears You don’t have to weep with me–not wrenching sobs at any rate, just a slow seep of wet, honoring the clouds of green and scimitars of swallows twittering against high blue. Mornings on the deck with black and … Continued