Do we not all “live” at the Hotel California? “You can check out anytime but you can never leave…” Bombs and rockets rained down last night. Russian missiles struck at least three cities in western and central Ukraine, and there were reports of fierce fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv. — according to the…
Time for writing is limited today. I did not post yesterday. Posting nothing again would be morally indefensible under the circumstances. This was the lead paragraph in The Morning news update from the New York Times: First, a news update: Russia continued its broad offensive in Ukraine today, pummeling cities and towns. Ukrainian officials…
This morning in a fog, dazed in disbelief. The siege of Ukraine continues. The port of Kherson has fallen. It is a city of 300,000. The bombardment of other cities continues. My mind reels at the news, that Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party asked Putin of Russia to delay the…
Monday morning, the Russian assault on Kyiv continues. Ukrainian resistance has been fierce, the intended lightning quick investment of the capital city bogged down. The Russians have sufficient armor, artillery and infantry to squeeze the outnumbered defenders. Infrastructure is destroyed in the course of the shelling, rocket attacks, the street fighting. For information on…
Saturday morning, gleaming sunlight upon pure fallen show, and at Starbucks I wrestle with words again. Each day presents a new contestation to say what is sayable. Before turning in last night I noted that on television an interview conducted with a female Ukrainian diplomat. By all appearances it was a measured, sober, responsible…
“Western leaders and diplomats,” she wrote, “think they live in a world where rules matter, where diplomatic protocol is useful, where polite speech is valued. All of them think that when they go to Russia, they are talking to people whose minds can be changed by argument or debate. They think the Russian elite…
Took a walk yesterday; a mid-winter warmup, the sidewalk was melted clear of ice. Walking past Almond Marsh I felt sad, resonating with the gray sky, the muted brown of the decaying cattails. The melt water was a sheen of reflected light upon an ice covered marsh. The world before me appeared ethereal drained…
Revisionary by Robert Pinsky The globe on a tilted axis means The News. As the icon spins the angle seems to shift. Science has found ancestral Neanderthals. We have a bit of their blood. They painted caves Better than sapiens, as we named ourselves. History has found the Jews who fought for Hitler. Thousands…
She was thirty years old. Several days ago report of a suicide on my iphone feed caught my attention. The age of the individual prompted me to read further. She was a North Carolinian, my home state. Chosen Miss America 2019, she was a civil attorney who did free legal work for people unjustly…
A poignant conversation happened between friends this week. The occasion and opportunity for the exchange of words was the death of a renowned self-taught improvisational pianist Michael Jones. Jones lived in Toronto and was an international recording artist. This morning I thought about other losses. Upon waking I learned of the death of Meatloaf,…
