without it

it is a sad story

but what can i do?

i can't kill myself because of this

so i have to learn to live with it

-fabienne jean 31 a haitian dancer who lost her leg to the rubble of the earth quake 2010

3 plants

in my cell

the narcissus
long stemmed
petals already like
fragile cigarette paper
four white pods

an african violet
screaming out

and the comic tragedy
of the clover
having perhaps killed the
bonzai tree
they are temperamental
these clover
they sleep at night
and rise and appear
to enjoy themselves perfectly
in the brightness of the sun
the petals fan out
and are poised in a state
of
sustained glee
then they fold inward as the day darkens

these flowers are my friends
in my cell

we watch winter with
guarded indifference

musicology for the 21st century

townes van zandt was asked once:
townes, how may kinds of music are there
in the world?

he thought for a moment and then said:

Two. there are two kinds of music.
there's the blues
and then there's
Zippidydoo dah

what cellists know

the cello is like a dog
it knows when you are afraid

-thomas schonberg

knowing by faith

Despite its comparative simplicity, a homily by Thomas
stretches the listener’s powers of understanding. It goes without saying
that he wants people to
be moved to a greater love of God, but he wants people above all to think about the mysteries of
faith—to think clearly and deeply, so as to arrive at a better grasp of the meaning of the feast at
hand, or of a scriptural passage under consideration.

peter kwasniewski
jeremy holmes

the things we know

Lives based on having are less free than lives based on doing or being.

-E.Y. Harburg

cognitive attrition

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.
Just get people to stop reading them.
-Ray Bradbury