Category Archives: fiction
Goldfield, Nevada — A Balance of Desires
The product originally being displayed here was a powdered milk product called Anlene. The ad ran in Crown Magazine from Taiwan back in 2001. Mandarin publication. It seems their milk board can have as much fun as our American milk … Continue reading
Are Writers Made or Born? by Jack Kerouac (transcribed for the first time!)
I transcribed this article from two image files at the Writer’s Digest website. I have introduced line breaks of my own to make the text more readable online. This is a six minute read. Kerouac reserves the word “genius” (and … Continue reading
Remembering Michael Duffet. (Again.)
Some bot at Legacy.com is asking people to go back to guest books they have signed in the past. Perhaps add a little more. So I did. Michael was a challenging man; he did let you escape back into the … Continue reading
Got Milk?
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And This is How You Get a Nobel Prize
Idiot Wind by Bob Dylan Selected lyrics: Someone’s got it in for me They’re planting stories in the press Whoever it is I wish they’d cut it out quick But when they will I can only guess They say I … Continue reading
Rhodesia Repost from Last Year
This needs to be said again. And again. Before free speech and accurate histories are regarded as only important to white racists. Updated September 22, 2021 As Long As a Free Man Breathes There Will Always Be a Rhodesia When … Continue reading
The Most Famous Chinese Poem
Introduction I read that this is the most famous Chinese Poem. Four lines. That’s it. That’s economy. I don’t know Chinese so I must rely on translations. Do any of these translations appeal to you more than another? I like … Continue reading
A. E. Housman Noting the Difference
Everybody thinks they are smarter than they are. You, me, everybody. Everybody thinks they are smarter than they are. Politicians also think they are smarter than they are. The difference between us and them is that they constantly seek to … Continue reading
Not Marble nor the Gilded Monuments by William Shakespeare
Took another look at Shakespeare’s sonnets. (internal link) Number 55 is very good, outlining the hope of all poets to live beyond the grave. Maxwell Nurnberg (A Gathering of Poems, Washington Square Press, 1969) says that the first two lines … Continue reading
The Master Singers of Japan by Clara Walsh
What is Japanese poetry translated into English? A true translation? Or an imitation? With Japanese poetry we need to convert words and structure. Or do we? If so, to what degree? Kenneth’s Rexroth’s translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry appeals … Continue reading