September 2009
9 posts
Owl by Sylvia Plath
Clocks belled twelve. Main street showed otherwise Than its suburb of woods : nimbus—- Lit, but unpeopled, held its windows Of wedding pastries,
Diamond rings, potted roses, fox-skins Ruddy on the wax mannequins In a glassed tableau of affluence. From deep-sunk basements
What moved the pale, raptorial owl Then, to squall above the level Of streetlights and wires, its wall to...
More and More by Margaret Atwood
More and more frequently the edges of me dissolve and I become a wish to assimilate the world, including you, if possible through the skin like a cool plant’s tricks with oxygen and live by a harmless green burning. I would not consume you or ever finish, you would still be there surrounding me, complete as the air. Unfortunately I don’t have leaves. Instead I have eyes and teeth and...
“Love is simply a word. It joins separate things. Lyndon and I, though you would...”
– -David Foster Wallace, Lyndon (Girl with Curious Hair)
Being Conscious and Staying Alert
As I’m sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea:...
The Lorax and Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Lorax
A good afternoon of nannying. We read The Lorax, which perhaps is my new favorite children’s book and we made whole wheat vegan mint chocolate chip cookies. The book—kid approved—-the cookies—not so much, as revealed by John’s response after trying the cookies: “have you made cookies before?” Next time I’ll be sure to have white flour on hand. Posted by Megan Anna at 10:28 AM 0...
Gasoline-Lantern Theology
“It is hard to write in the difficult conditions of life in the bush. The themes of this study were composed by the poor light of a gasoline lantern set on top of a thick dictionary and a Bible. … the problems of nascent communities, allows us to wake up to the life of the church, to its appeals, to its quest for better practice on its own mission. I had the happiness to see this meaning of...
The Tractor is my Pulpit
“The tractor is my pulpit”
—Sister Gail Worcelo (from Green Sisters by Sarah McFarland Taylor)
“It’s not that I don’t accept God, you must understand, it’s the world created by Him I don’t and can’t accept.” -Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov
A Sad Child by Margaret Atwood
You’re sad because you’re sad. It’s psychic. It’s the age. It’s chemical. Go see a shrink or take a pill, or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll you need to sleep. Well, all children are sad but some get over it. Count your blessings. Better than that, buy a hat. Buy a coat or pet. Take up dancing to forget. Forget what? Your sadness, your shadow, whatever it was...