When I was eighteen, I saw a film of Matisse sketching his grandson. He did sketch after sketch, each time simpler. The portrait never became abstract, it simply became a face with fewer and fewer lines needed to give the boy his presence. Through […]
Monthly Archives: February 2023
Alicia Ostriker reads “All That Year”
… When Alicia Ostriker sent me a poem called “All That Year,” I asked if I could record her reading it, and she said, “Yes.” After we’d finished, I noticed that one line had changed. In the fifth line of the poem she’d sent, the […]
Five Sonnets in the Dark and in the Light
The poet and professor, Jamey Jones, asked me last summer if I would submit some poetry for publication in the magazine, Hurricane Review. It is always a task to decide on something, but finally I did, and Jamey kindly chose a few. There is […]
Arup Datta, Some Drawings from August 2022 – February 2023
… The year 2022 contained a lot of strife, illness and death, not only in the world around, but in my own life as well. One of the good constant things that I came to rely on were the drawings of Arup Datta. He lives […]
Every Morning I Feed My Cat
What follows is a lesson plan introducing High Beginner ESL students to the Present Tense, the simple present and the present progressive. The activities are for both group and individual work. And the answers are given for the exercises. There is a printable PDF. […]
