Note: This article first appeared in the print edition of the Press-Enterprise on April 20, 2014, in the Inlandia Institute‘s weekly column. As you must know if you’ve bothered with this section of the paper, we’re currently knee-deep in National Broccoli Month. The official 2014 National Broccoli Month poster, which I pre-ordered for free in quadruplicate last fall, …
Note: This article first appeared in the print edition of the Press-Enterprise on February 18, 2014, in the Inlandia Institute‘s weekly column. In the time it takes to read this sentence, 50 English instructors will write the word “cliché†in red ink in the margins of a student paper. The admonition to “Avoid clichés!†has almost become a …
I have exactly one academic-style talk that I give, and I’ve given it a few times, because I have exactly one thing that I know well enough and that I think is worth talking about at length. The talk is called “Poetry and the Subconscious,” and it basically riffs off of my favorite quote by …
ADVICE Think buckshot: Not the rifle, but the musket. Ear-horn of powder, arm- deep in black soot. Think flint lock and flash pan. Muzzle blast. Hollow point. Don’t paint the rounds, don’t ready the bayonet. No aim is necessary; nothing is true. Think percussion cap. Any metal as shrapnel. Any spark as lightning; be bottled.
As someone who isn’t very funny — I have a good sense of humor and laugh often, but lack the social skills to tell a good joke — I’m always amazed at how easy it is to be funny on stage (at least when the situation doesn’t demand it). I was at a poetry reading …