Faith & Reason

Here & ElsewhereI cannot write I cannot writewhen I want to, when I need to.I mean I cannot writewhat must be writtenwhat demands to be written.Every morning I ask… More

The New Religion

The body is a nation I have not known. The pure joy of air: the moment between leaping from a cliff into the wall of blue below. Like that. More

Home Economics

Lexington, Ky.—When you fly over the Appalachians of eastern Kentucky, you can see the gray scars on the mountains, pockmarks reaching far to the north and east that are… More

On Faith & Reason

Instead of me,/ the reading lamp begins to move../ It takes a different shape,/ becomes a starship,/ and the little men/ get off to take me/ as if I… More

On Faith & Reason

The VisitWhen I looked up from my blank pagethere was an angel in the room.A rather commonplace angel,presumably of lower rank.You cannot imagine, he said,the degree to which you’re… More

Conversation With Noah

– If all those people must be flooded, is it not fair that they be warned?– The calamity itself is the warning.– Then your god is acting rashly.– What… More

A Field Guide to Ukrainian Sex

A Field Guide to Ukrainian Sex by Oksana Zabuzhko is a book that absolutely deserves to be translated into English, and pronto. Ostensibly the tale of a disastrous love… More

Watching As the World Vanishes

It was shameful, everyone agreed afterward, that no one did anything at the time. Because people knew it was happening. There were reports, early on. People saw things, near… More

Poet’s Choice

I attended an event last month in New York City sponsored by the PEN American Center and entitled "State of Emergency: Unconventional Readings." PEN believes that it is urgently… More