Ashok Karra

american politics

I wish I could tell you that I had a shortcut for getting people to care about solutions

I had just finished writing about Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright" when I started doubting its utility.

poetry

Robert Frost, "The Gift Outright"

"The Gift Outright" could seduce through its music alone.

american politics

This Political Moment, 7/3/24

...this has been a long coup.

dungeons and dragons

Bonus content: On Playing Dungeons and Dragons at 44 Years of Age

It's dramatically distinct from my teenage years, when DnD was nothing but bad combat scenarios.

poetry

Jane Kenyon, "Evening Sun"

Jane Kenyon's startling starting question, immediate and personal for us all: "Why does this light force me back / to my childhood?"

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Experience is the Angled Road" (910)

Many have used poetry to generate lingering, meditative essays, but Dickinson is in rare form with "Experience is the Angled Road."

poetry

Jane Kenyon, "Not Writing"

Kyla Houbolt's "On Not Writing" brought back memories of this poem, "Not Writing," by the inimitable Jane Kenyon.

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "On Not Writing"

Kyla Houbolt calls forth moments when words overwhelm.

writing

Where do you like to write? (Or, where did you write where every word counted?)

The Substack #AmWriting had a great prompt: Where is your favorite writing spot? And why?

american politics

Lift Every Voice

I've got a few new subscribers, so I want to make sure I welcome everyone properly.

philosophy

Joan Didion, "On Self-Respect"

I want self-respect to claim its rightful place as an eminently useful concept.

poetry

Rita Dove, "Little Town"

This little, haiku-like poem by Rita Dove got me thinking about a lot of places I've been.

philosophy

Emerson on Surfaces; Hamilton Nolan on Joe Biden

Emerson: "We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them."

poetry

Suzanne Buffam, "On Antigone"

Suzanne Buffam's little lyric "On Antigone" strikes me as if the perfect words have been spoken.

american politics

Boring and Frightening, Both At Once

There's so much news and all of it is relevant.

poetry

Yosa Buson, "Early summer rain"

Lots of light rain in South Jersey makes everything a bit too overgrown.

philosophy

Camus on Art, Wealth, and Valuation

In Create Dangerously, Camus asks if art must either be "merely entertaining," trying to connect to the majority, or if it will get stuck expressing "nothing but negativity," trying to "blindly reject society."

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "I can wade Grief" (252)

Dickinson's darkly comic opening should rankle us. Really? You can wade grief?

education

Literacy and Leadership

"To thine own self be true," says Polonius, and viewers of Hamlet might think it terrible advice.

poetry

Kobayashi Issa, "Napped half the day"

It's been a month.

poetry

Denise Levertov, "Witness"

What an amazing presence, a mountain.

poetry

Chase Twichell, "Animal Caution"

Mom is in the hospital.

education

On Conferences, or Thank You To Sigma Tau/Sigma Kappa Delta for "In Flux"

I initially resisted some of the best advice I got in graduate school: go to conferences.

poetry

Wislawa Szymborska, "In the Park"

Wislawa Szymborska captures a small but subversive comedy with "In the Park."

poetry

Donika Kelly, "Sanctuary"

A powerful poetry reading can't be written about, probably. However, we can say "these words struck me. I should speak, too."