Ashok Karra

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."

education

How to Maintain an Innovative Chapter, or Unofficial Year in Review for Sigma Kappa Delta, Psi Alpha Chapter AY 2023-24

...the Psi Alpha chapter of Odessa College has done incredible work this past year.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Fame is the one that does not stay" (Franklin 1507)

There is no way to talk about being American without confronting Emily Dickinson.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "The Savior must have been a docile Gentleman" (1487)

Sometimes I think about doing. Perhaps there is a meaning to doing itself, a meaning that holds true for all actions.

SOLAE "Rookie of the Year" Award

I just received the "Rookie of the Year" award from Odessa College's School of Liberal Arts and Education (SOLAE).

poetry

William Butler Yeats, "The Choice"

Yeats proclaims that "[t]he intellect... is forced to choose / Perfection of the life, or of the work."

sheila heti

Are friends simply those who are around?

Heti writes: "Your friends were simply who was around."

poetry

Robert Creeley, "Oh"

Listen and look. Creeley's sentence does not just surprise with sadness: "Oh like a bird / falls down / out of air."

james baldwin

"You gave us ourselves to think about, to cherish."

So many magnificent moments in Toni Morrison's eulogy for James Baldwin.

philosophy

Francis Bacon, "Of Delays"

...the logic behind promoting practical, effective action in any and all cases has become a wasteland for powerful abusers and their craven, crank fanboys.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "All You Did"

"All you did," says Kay Ryan, "was / walk into a room." Just from that, you unknowingly scaled a sheer vertical face.

poetry

Linda Gregg, "Highway 90"

At night in the desert, driving a fast car, there's freedom. A reveling in nature. Power.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Hope" is the thing with feathers (254)

I do think there's a strong relation between hope and anxiety...

education

"With great power comes great responsibility."

I forget there are incentives for ignorance.

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "to go or stay"

Kyla Houbolt wrote "to go or stay" for a recent Small Poem Sunday, and I've found myself pondering her little lyric quite a bit.

education

Valentine's Day, 2024

It would be so cool to give out Valentine's cards with Optimus Prime saying stuff like "I will transform your heart."

poetry

Kobayashi Issa, "Writing shit about new snow" (translation Robert Hass)

"Writing shit about new snow / for the rich / is not art" is a blunt instrument, clear about its stand and too short to be a rant.

american politics

On the Texas Constitution

I'd like to introduce you to this short video about the Texas Constitution.

poetry

Marie Ponsot, "Bliss and Grief"

"No one / is here / right now." That's it. That's "Bliss and Grief," a short poem by Marie Ponsot.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Bait Goat"

...I can't help but feel the pull of the words "Bait Goat."

american politics

On Class in America, 1/27/2024

[I]f you change your speech–maybe use appropriate grammar, make polite and charming small talk–you can advance in society?

philosophy

Philosophy and Advertising

If we do separate philosophy from religion cleanly, then is philosophy relegated to being a cult?

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Salvage"

I am not in the mood for Kay Ryan's "Salvage."