Category Archives: Writing

I find the politics of this poem fascinating. For Attar to show this much respect for a religious tradition he describes in such barbaric terms, suggests a willingness to grant a certain level of validity to other beliefs that I … Continue reading →

This is a story that has been told in several different versions. Here is my first pass at Attar’s take on it in Elahi Nameh. Izrail is the name of the Angel of Death: I’ve heard that one day Izrail,
 … Continue reading →

Let’s get the obvious, by which I do not mean inconsequential, out of the way first. When a writer chooses to use her art to give voice to those who might otherwise be voiceless, that choice deserves to be recognized … Continue reading →

That’s the title and the title poem of my second book of poetry, on which I have just put the finishing touches and which I will, over the next couple weeks, start shopping around to publishers. LIke last time–which was … Continue reading →

Ozone Park, the literary journal published by the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College in New York City, has published my poem “I Fell in Love With All That Struggled in You Not to Drown,” Here’s … Continue reading →

I think it was Eavan Boland who wrote the essay I kept thinking about while reading Cynthia Dewi Oka’s first book of poetry, Nomad of Salt and Hard Water, published this year by Dinah Press. I don’t remember the essay’s … Continue reading →

I recently completed Dan Blank’s Build Your Author Platform online course (which I recommend, by the way, to anyone who wants to understand better how to treat her or his writing career as a business), and one of the things … Continue reading →

I was at my mother’s on Sunday, before Sandy hit New York, helping her clean out her attic because she’s moving to New Jersey and she wants to take with her as little as possible of the stuff that she’s … Continue reading →