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Ashok Karra

Ashok Karra

357 posts published

http://ashokkarra.com https://x.com/akarra https://www.facebook.com/akarra
Wisława Szymborska, "Puddles"
poetry

Wisława Szymborska, "Puddles"

Szymborska's riddling moral in "Puddles" fascinates both as a matter of craft and as a puzzle about our paranoia

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 3, 2023 • 2 min read
Kyla Houbolt, "The Yellow Submarine"
poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "The Yellow Submarine"

Kyla Houbolt's "The Yellow Submarine" presents us with yellow everywhere.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 2, 2023 • 3 min read
Heidegger's "Unfaith"
philosophy

Heidegger's "Unfaith"

...I want to look at some remarks of Heidegger which concern how faith relates to the question "Why are there beings at all instead of nothing?"

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 21, 2023 • 6 min read
Isabella Mori, "Not So Pretty Haiku"
poetry

Isabella Mori, "Not So Pretty Haiku"

Mori achieves an affecting memoir of what COVID wrought.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 17, 2023 • 3 min read
Introducing Heidegger's "Fundamental Question of Metaphysics"
philosophy

Introducing Heidegger's "Fundamental Question of Metaphysics"

...I was not convinced in the least that "Why is there anything at all?" was a good question.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 8, 2023 • 5 min read
On the Prefatory Note of Heidegger's "Introduction to Metaphysics"
heidegger

On the Prefatory Note of Heidegger's "Introduction to Metaphysics"

In my early twenties, I was assigned Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics for a class. I did not get very far.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 3, 2023 • 4 min read
Emily Dickinson, “A Letter is a joy of Earth” (1639)
poetry

Emily Dickinson, “A Letter is a joy of Earth” (1639)

Letters are not easy. I know this, but I write bad ones anyway.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra May 31, 2023 • 3 min read
Agnes Martin, "Praise"
art

Agnes Martin, "Praise"

It is a pink square with a texture like a paper napkin.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra May 25, 2023 • 5 min read
On the Problem of "Missing Out"
philosophy

On the Problem of "Missing Out"

We believe who we were could understand who we are.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra May 21, 2023 • 4 min read
Emily Dickinson, "As willing lid o’er weary eye" (1050)
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "As willing lid o’er weary eye" (1050)

...the evening would not be the evening, nor the day the day, if we did not labor and require rest.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra May 11, 2023 • 5 min read
Generational Conflict and the Question of Value
politics

Generational Conflict and the Question of Value

This moment feels more radical, as if the very possibility of change—I'm not even speaking of a specific change—were an affront to divinity.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra May 1, 2023 • 6 min read
Innocence and Experience: On Kay Ryan's "Crown"
poetry

Innocence and Experience: On Kay Ryan's "Crown"

The sacred as untouchable, inviolable, inaccessible makes sense to me.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Apr 29, 2023 • 3 min read
Tucker Carlson's Departure

Tucker Carlson's Departure

Tucker Carlson being out at Fox is a huge deal. If I could organize a symposium of academics to talk about it, I would.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Apr 25, 2023 • 4 min read
Love thy neighbor
american politics

Love thy neighbor

I finish writing a short piece on nihilism, and then I have to confront the news.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Apr 19, 2023 • 4 min read
On Nihilism: Kay Ryan's "Nothing Ventured"
poetry

On Nihilism: Kay Ryan's "Nothing Ventured"

I confess confusion regarding the word "nihilism."

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Apr 17, 2023 • 3 min read
An Ordinance of Reason
philosophy

An Ordinance of Reason

A number of events have me wondering about Aquinas' definition of law.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Mar 31, 2023 • 2 min read
On Creation: Emily Dickinson, "I dwell in Possibility"
poetry

On Creation: Emily Dickinson, "I dwell in Possibility"

...genuine expressions of identity are nothing less than poetry.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Mar 29, 2023 • 6 min read
"Eternity waits:" On Adam Zagajewski's "Gulls" (from "En Route")
poetry

"Eternity waits:" On Adam Zagajewski's "Gulls" (from "En Route")

"Eternity doesn't travel, / eternity waits." Zagajewski proposes a mystic truth. Before we can debate it, we have to believe it in some sense.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Mar 21, 2023 • 4 min read
Adam Zagajewski, "Segesta" (from "En Route")
poetry

Adam Zagajewski, "Segesta" (from "En Route")

You only see when you see differently.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Mar 19, 2023 • 4 min read
Not beyond pain: Emily Dickinson, "Presentiment — is that long Shadow — on the Lawn" (764)
poetry

Not beyond pain: Emily Dickinson, "Presentiment — is that long Shadow — on the Lawn" (764)

There are days of disappointment.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Mar 18, 2023 • 4 min read
Our Daily Bread: Paul Celan, "I hear the axe has flowered"
poetry

Our Daily Bread: Paul Celan, "I hear the axe has flowered"

So many times I've been told pain is necessary for growth.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Mar 8, 2023 • 4 min read
Comfort and the Soul: Vsevolod Nekrasov, "The Soul"
poetry

Comfort and the Soul: Vsevolod Nekrasov, "The Soul"

When I was in graduate school, two words were too much.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Mar 1, 2023 • 4 min read
On the Meaning of Survival: Kay Ryan's "Turtle"
poetry

On the Meaning of Survival: Kay Ryan's "Turtle"

Really good art makes you really mad.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Feb 23, 2023 • 3 min read
On Democratic Virtues: East Palestine, Ohio
american politics

On Democratic Virtues: East Palestine, Ohio

...screaming bloody murder when you have urgent and serious reasons to question authority is a political virtue.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Feb 14, 2023 • 6 min read
Of Cruelty and Calamity
poetry

Of Cruelty and Calamity

We're all broken into eveningwear and skull.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Feb 13, 2023 • 4 min read
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