Blood Meridian

Some of my favorite places are wide open spaces. Standing in a desert field can compare with strolling through a bountiful metropolis, and I’ve traveled hours upon end to stand in some fairly desolate spots, just to listen to the dry grass crackle and to gaze upon wagon wheel ruts which can’t be erased. There’s [...]

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Rough going

Goodness. I began the year with renewed enthusiasm for the TBR stack and energy to burn. Then the midwinter blahs struck and it feels as though I’m treading water in a large tub with no ladder. With the exception of No Country for Old Men, the past few weeks have been slow going. Tree of [...]

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Laundry

That’s blue, the poem
Of an early egg, a spray of foam
Or green, spit from a single shoot
Pushing, highward, violent root
Fond yellow, come? see? dandelion?
The beige of memory, sand, of time
More purple, spilt in royal light
‘Gainst grey and brown
Near black’s smooth sight
Then love,
A crimson filament,
The brightest hue, the strongest thread.

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The Maytrees

A long time ago, an English professor of mine professed great respect for Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I haven’t read it but am working on The Maytrees, Dillard’s 2007 novel, a light and breezy thing thus far. Written in a vaguely post-modern style, with many flourishing trills and inventive words, Dillard tells the story of [...]

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No Country for Old Men

I finished No Country for Old Men late last night, a bitter wind hitting the house from the north and west. Even though the pages turned lightly, I felt such heaviness as I finished the book and trundled off to the cold bedroom. The earthy decency of Sheriff Bell, his complex simplicity (a well lit oxymoron), and his [...]

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