Blog: What Poems Mean

In Annie Hall, Alvy Singer spots a copy of Ariel, Sylvia Plath’s last book of poems, in Annie’s apartment. In an attempt to connect with her, he offers his unsolicited opinion that Plath was an “interesting poetess whose tragic suicide was misinterpreted as romantic by the college girl mentality.” Ugh. Sylvia Plath often does appeal… Continue reading Sylvia Plath: Millennial Before Her Time

Most of us are in denial about nearing death, and perhaps we ought to be. It’s easier to carry on without imagining what it’s like not to exist, or to know the interior of a coffin, or to be catapulted off into a kaleidoscopic second life. Have I lost you yet? I’ve almost lost myself.… Continue reading Lorca’s “Gacela of the Dark Death” and….Death

I can read Ginsberg’s “America” over and over and laugh (or at least smile) every time. Not at the whole thing, of course. Some lines are offensive, some are outdated, and some are inside jokes. Yet taken as a whole, it never fails to amuse me with its strangeness, wit, pathos, and brashness. The same… Continue reading Allen Ginsberg’s “America” and Stand-up Comedy

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” – Matthew 5:5 In politics and religion, I’ve always felt very torn in my allegiances. I love and hate my home state of Alabama, which is mostly conservative and sometimes quite progressive. Weird and traditional. Kind and cruel. Ruled by God and the devil. I… Continue reading Mary Karr’s “Who The Meek Are Not”: Evangelical Alabamians and the End of Serfdom

I went to a state school, Auburn University, and when I first arrived, I hated it. I had hoped to go away to some tiny, pricey school replete with drum circles and dudes who dressed like beat poets (unironic berets and all). Grimeses are congenitally frugal, though, so I couldn’t bring myself to do it.… Continue reading Russell Edson’s “The Adventures of a Turtle”: a Cute Spin on Meaninglessness

Bear with me a minute. American children are exposed to a bouillabaisse of stories. There are animated American monsters like Barbies and Minions. There are stories inherited from older cultures...the terrifying Krampus, the clever Anansi, the auspicious Chinese dragon. There are family mythologies about great uncles lost at war and great-great aunts who starved so… Continue reading William Butler Yeats’ “Who Goes with Fergus?” and the Power of Pugnacious Myths