I realized not too long ago that I’ve always wanted magnetic poetry. You know what I mean, don’t you? Those little white magnetic rectangles that have only one word on them, and you put them on your refrigerator (or locker or filing cabinet) and arrange and rearrange them to make poems. I had played with […]
Read moremephitic adj of, relating to, or resembling mephitis; foul-smelling Right. Do Not Define a word employing a word I do not know. That is Not Helpful, Merriam Webster. Unless, of course, the word I do not know can be Easily Found (don’t you know how easy it is for me to get lost –and for […]
Read moreI have a new favorite word: archipelago. Just say it. Try it. Go ahead. (You have to say it Out Loud, Silly.) (Quietly, if you’d like.) See?
Read moreMy friend Nat likes to make fun of me from time to time. Not a lot. And not unkindly. It’s just that he is amused by some things about me, like my opinion of Sting, for example. And the opinion I Once Held about Lionel Richie (no one should be held accountable for things one […]
Read moreLast weekend my sister Emily sent us all a link to a little radio interview. That’s her in the interview, don’t you know. My sister. My sister Emily. I listened to it right away. And then I listened again. And again a few more times. It’s a great interview: it’s humorous, and witty, and at […]
Read moreWho Lately Lives In China but Is Home in America For Just a Little While. We joined with other pilgrims on the journey home. They came from London town, and how it warmed the heart to hear our native tongue again! An onion is an onion still no matter what you call it. A man’s […]
Read moreMy friend Tracey has alerted me to a website, and I’ve just spent an– at turns– happy, surprised, confused and clever ten minutes there, the upshot of which is the donation of 760 grains of rice for distribution by the United Nations. www.freerice.com is a vocabulary website. They give you a word and four options […]
Read more“But words are strong, words are not spoken with impunity, they leave traces in the heart, even if spoken without feeling they speak to the feelings of him who speaks them, though you may lie with them, their magic shapes you according to their meaning, so that what you have said is no longer entirely […]
Read moreAt the back of my copy of Thomas Mann’s Joseph and His Brothers, I have a list that I made while reading through the book for the first time. It is a list of words and their page numbers, words I do not know, or am only vaguely aware of but could not, if asked […]
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