Author Archives: Lee

Empty

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Lee

To be empty inside is to have “no special way of moving or doing things so one way is the same … as another.” You learn things fast and follow instructions well. You are useful to others. “The Dead Child” … Continue reading →

Posted in Beat Generation, books, Literature | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Home

Posted on November 24, 2023 by Lee

I finished reading Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich this morning. The Earth is our home, and the future home will be the Earth to come. In the story, the planet is changing fast and the future … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Sharing Dreams

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Lee

I’m reading Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb this week. Not telling the prophetic dreams makes them sick. It’s like an obsession, says one of the dreamers. It feels, upon waking, like the dream must be told, or at least written … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Hyndla

Posted on August 18, 2023 by Lee

Hyndluljod, or “The Song of Hyndla,” is an Eddic poem about the giant Hyndla, the goddess Freyja, and a man called Ottar the Foolish. Hyndla is known for her great knowledge of the world and its history. Freyja wants Ottar … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Mythology, Norse Mythology | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Doors

Posted on August 3, 2023 by Lee

To make a short story by Kafka even shorter: A man approaches a door and is told by the doorkeeper that he cannot enter. The door is wide open and the man thinks about just strolling through and the doorkeeper … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Labyrinths

Posted on July 20, 2023 by Lee

For Borges a labyrinth is a place, somewhere you might find yourself, which has the quality of being infinite. It might be a house and the house might have only fourteen rooms. But if those fourteen rooms are your whole … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Philosophy | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

A little says a lot

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Lee

“In the chair / I decided to call Haiku / By the name of Pop” I like Jack Kerouac’s approach to haiku. As everyone knows, haiku means a poem of seventeen syllables. But Kerouac didn’t think the syllable restriction worked … Continue reading →

Posted in Beat Generation, books, Literature | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Godspeed

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Lee

“This day winding down now / At God speeded summer’s end” are the first two lines of Dylan Thomas’s “Prologue.” William York Tindall points out how the “now” and “end” stand at the ends of the lines, giving these words … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Clinging On

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Lee

There’s an old man in a story by Nabokov, a terrible old man, whom the narrator makes quite sure you could have no love for – he’s lecherous, sour, selfish – but perhaps still you can feel sympathy because he … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

One Life

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Lee

“Always merry and bright!” is the ironic refrain throughout Henry Miller’s “The Tailor Shop.” Miller doesn’t hide the bad in those times, the dark and the grim; he doesn’t hide his own “bad heart” or the bad in the other … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Literature | Tagged , , | 2 Comments