“I envy them their public love. I myself have only known it in secret, shared it in secret and longed, aw longed to show it—to be able to say out loud what they have no need to say at all: That I have loved only you, surrendered my whole self reckless to you and nobody else. […]

The Song of Wandering Aengus William Butler Yeats I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in […]

Wherever You Woke by Dermot Bolger There only ever was one street      One back garden, one bedroom: Wherever you woke you woke beneath      The ceiling where you were born, For the briefest unconscious second      An eyelid’s flutter from home. I found this in a compilation called Soho Square Six […]

As I mentioned, I’ve been doing a lot of reading. I noticed near the end of 2011 that I had read a lot already, so I figured if I pushed it, I could read 100 books before the end of the year. I managed to read 103 books, which was fun and definitely made a […]

I finally read this book. I bought it ages ago, when everyone bought it. I left it on the shelf, because it got too much hipster attention, but also because it’s about something very hard, and seemed to come too close to some painful situations in my own family, and sometimes it’s nice to avoid […]

Wild Decembers by Edna O’Brien This book  encapsulates so much about rural Ireland and feuding families and the strictures on women.  It’s heart-breaking and beautiful and true.  O’Brien’s language is gorgeous, and the story unfolds like a great tragedy.  Unfortunately, the audio version I listened to was of poor quality.  I’m surprised Audible did such […]

I fell down a bit with 12 books in 12 months, and now I need to catch up. I’ve read these: 1.  A Mercy: A Novel by Toni Morrison. Sighed my way through the audiobook version, and felt like I was betraying an idol. 2. Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt.  I think I loved […]

This year, I’m trying to focus more clearly on music than I have since, well, since the world went all pear-shaped in 2009.  I’ve also been doing more research on early medieval Scandinavia than usual.  It feels right, then, to give you a song that circles through my brain, particularly as the ground starts to […]

The Good Brother by Chris Offutt I’m a huge fan of Chris Offutt’s work, which I was introduced to as a college student with a serious devotion to Appalachian Studies.  Knowing that Offutt has been focusing on writing for TV rather than churning out stories and novels for the last several years, I just help […]

I’ve been a bit busy, which has kept me from posting all of the things I wanted to post about.  Well, hang that nonsense.  Here’s what I can think of off the top of my head. I went to the Knitter’s Review Retreat, which was absolutely wonderful, as usual. My friend Ruadhan was able to […]