The gym has been great not only for my health and soon-to-be ripped-ness, but I’ve been catching up on NewYorkers left and right.
I finally read the wonderful piece on Frank O’Hara’s writing by Dan Chiasson from April 7. (photo from TheNewyorker.com)
I’ve been a fan of Frank O’Hara for some years now, ever since the [...]

Posted in books, poetry 1 Comment »

That’s the title of a memoir written by the incomparable Marge Piercy. Piercy spoke Friday night at the Literary Arts Festival at one of the colleges where I teach. She was great: cranky, funny, obnoxious, generous– and such an amazing poet. When asked by a student what advice she had for new writers she exclaimed: [...]

Posted in books, cats, poetry, ted 2 Comments »

Last night, at the community college where I teach Ted and I gave a presentation titled That’s So Gay! for our annual Literary Arts Festival. It was the kickoff event, a reading/interrogation by several of the professors of the school. Our theme for the Lit. Arts Festival this year is The Writer As Activist and [...]

Posted in cute photos of me, my writing, poetry, questions that plague me, teaching, ted 6 Comments »

Like most folks, I get behind in my NewYorkers.
But since I started back up at the gym i’ve been taking them to read while on the cycle-thingy and the walky-army thingy (the bike? the elliptical? stairmaster?)– you can see how much time i’ve spent in a gym in my life.
Anyway, recently I read the story [...]

Posted in books, poetry No Comments »

Oh, today I mourn the last day of teaching poetry! Alas!
We’re heading into fiction after today. Last week I shared this Billy Collins poem with
the class. Billy Collins. Sigh. I still have a man-crush on him (does that make me gay?).
If you’ve read his poems you’ll know why.
Class Picture, 1954
Billy Collins
I am the third [...]

Posted in books, cute photos of me, poetry, teaching 5 Comments »