Apr 11, 2018 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes, Poetry
(posted on Mark Strand’s birthday – April 11, 1934) What of the neighborhood homes awash In a silver light, of children hunched in the bushes, Watching the grown-ups for signs of surrender, Signs that the irregular pleasures of moving From day to day, of...
Apr 2, 2018 | Current Ned Note, On Books, On Writing
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon is the first novel I know of that told the story entirely from the point of view of a person with Autism. There have been other books that dabbled in these waters, but Curious Incident is the first novel...
Mar 19, 2018 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes
What does it mean to tell a story? When I think of “telling a story,” I am thinking specifically of the act of verbal storytelling – perhaps around a fire with an audience of people who can leave at any moment. In this situation of verbal storytelling, it’s important...
Mar 17, 2018 | Current Ned Note, Past Notes, Poetry
by Larry Levis Whenever I listen to Billie Holiday, I am reminded That I, too, was once banished from New York City. Not because of drugs or because I was interesting enough For any wan, overworked patrolman to worry about— His expression usually a great, gauzy...
Mar 12, 2018 | Current Ned Note, On Writing
re-published on Arts Advocacy Day – March 12-13, 2018 I read on Brainpickings recently that Mark Rothko, the marvelous abstract expressionist painter, said that when people “weep” when seeing his paintings they are having the same transcendent experience he had...
Mar 10, 2018 | Current Ned Note, Past Notes, Poetry
by Kevin Craft Wind kicks a few cups down the alley. Pocketful of stones, a greasy lot. Morning chill in fleeting sunlight. You’d rather stay under this blanket agreement. Not any storm can house you off the cuff. The troposphere brushes your cold turned cheek. Wake...
