Here are some recent posts I've enjoyed:
for Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy : wonderful melded photos and a poem
Walt Whitman's Summer Wander: which begins, "Walt Whitman is watching the young men again, where they play a sandlot baseball game in windy green-hilled Iowa in early summer.
Walt Whitman is silently watching the game, his eye following every catch, and lusting in his heart after the long clean limbs exposed to the open air, the strong wrists and thighs of the players, their bent backs and arcing shoulders as they throw or pause in running between the bases."
An Encounter with Pan: About E.M. Forster's "The Story of a Panic" in his collection The Celestial Omnibus which, I think, was prompted by my post on Pan, to which Art replied about about the Forster story and its gay subtext.
Words from the Wizard about Writing which contains this piece of wisdom from LeGuin's website (and followed by Durkee's response):
A Few Words to a Young Writer:Socrates said, "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul." He wasn't talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth.
A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.


3 comments:
I just watched the documentary "Chris & Don: A Love Story" last night on Sundance. I was bawling. Thanks for the link.
Thanks for the mention! :)
You're quite right, your mention of Pan was what got me going. I re-read the Forster story, then that led me to what I wrote. I feel pretty good about the results, too; one of those essays that occasionally happen without warning, that somehow are a step up from the usual thing one writes.
So, thanks for that, too. :)
My pleasure, both of you!
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