Video: Marconi Union and Lyz Cooper perform “Weightless”
Listen to Marconi Union and Lyz Cooper perform “Weightless” — said to be the most relaxing piece of music ever composed. [8 minutes]
Video: “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe read by Christopher Lee
. . “The Raven,” written in 1845, stands today as Poe’s best-known work; he later claimed that he wrote it with “the intention of composing a poem that should suit … Continue reading
Ursula K. Le Guin: On Power, Oppression and Freedom
My country came together in one revolution and was nearly broken by another. The first revolution was a protest against galling, stupid, but relatively mild social and economic exploitation. It … Continue reading
Gary Snyder: For All
Ah to be alive on a mid-September morn fording a stream barefoot, pants rolled up, holding boots, pack on, sunshine, ice in the shallows, northern rockies. Rustle and shimmer of … Continue reading
Mary Oliver: The Artist’s Task
It is a silver morning like any other. I am at my desk. Then the phone rings, or someone raps at the door. I am deep in the machinery of … Continue reading
Jeff Oaks: Fathers
Ward Cleaver, Mike Brady, Archie Bunker, Mr. Cunningham: what other models? No one expected our fathers to do much beyond buy things, and I wonder whether fathers were relieved or … Continue reading
Yusef Komunyakaa: Ode to the Maggot
Little
Master of earth, no one gets to heaven
Without going through you first.
Philip Levine: Animals Are Passing From Our Lives
It’s wonderful how I jog on four honed-down ivory toes my massive buttocks slipping like oiled parts with each light step. I’m to market. I can smell the sour, grooved … Continue reading
The Movement for Black Lives: Resistence and Rebellion
In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of more than 50 organizations representing thousands of Black people from … Continue reading
Video: ‘Crows’ — a short film by Akira Kurosawa starring Martin Scorsese
. This ten-minute clip is taken from Dreams, a feature-length series of eight sketches by Akira Kurosawa released in 1990. Martin Scorsese, sporting a red beard and an unmistakable New York … Continue reading
Audio: Dylan Thomas reads “Do not go gentle into that good night”
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light….
Yehoshua November: Conjoined Twins
My father was a resident in the hospital
when my young mother gave birth to them. Two bodies
and one heart.
Video: “The Tuft of Flowers” read by Robert Frost
. The Tuft of Flowers I went to turn the grass once after one Who mowed it in the dew before the sun. The dew was gone that made his … Continue reading
Michael Simms: Why Gardening is Good for Us
Last year, Eva and I hired a contractor to remove the asphalt from our backyard which for years had been used as a woodlot and a basketball court. The soil … Continue reading
