Monthly Archives: June 2009

Homeward Bound: In Houston

for David Solis & Damien Gaffney Sunlight scorched; almost immediately, shirt dripped with sweat and I retreated into a Starbucks. Inside, told this was dry heat, that humidity would arrive and make this that much worse. People-watched from the window for an hour or two. Lots of gorgeous women wearing loose-fitting clothes, seemingly unaffected by …

June 30, 2009 – 6:48 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (4)

Notes on Dickinson’s “I stepped from Plank to Plank” (875)

“I stepped from Plank to Plank…” (875) Emily Dickinson I stepped from Plank to Plank A slow and cautious way The Stars about my Head I felt About my Feet the Sea. I knew not but the next Would be my final inch — This gave me that precarious Gait Some call Experience. Comment: “Stepped” …

June 29, 2009 – 4:08 pm | By ashok | Posted in dickinson, poetry | Comments (3)

Housekeeping: Updating the Index Page

I’m working on updating the Index page – your help is requested. If you’re playing around with it and notice broken links or misspellings or anything, let me know. Also, let me know if there are posts you want to see featured on that page which I forgot about. You wouldn’t believe – even with …

June 25, 2009 – 6:35 pm | By ashok | Posted in blogging | Comments (1)

Links, 6/25/09

You can save the planet for only $175 a household? Who would be stupid enough to believe that? Oh. Re: the President’s health care proposals (h/t Instapundit) fta: “Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist and researcher at the New York University Langone Medical Center, said that elites often propose health care solutions that limit options for …

June 25, 2009 – 12:10 pm | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (0)

The Authentic Readership: On Amy King’s “Calling all agents”

Calling all agents (from amy king’s alias) Amy King When they come unexpected, love and letters unsettle as if to blow penciled hues that prick the pupils of one who scans a dying horizon for wooden branches of floral text. Hold out the web of your impulse; turn what stands before you to Braille. A …

June 25, 2009 – 3:50 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Tagged | Comments (2)

“Death in life, and life in death:” On Jane Kenyon’s “Otherwise”

Thank you to Lisa Mahaffey & Nancy Devine Otherwise (from Poetry 180) Jane Kenyon I got out of bed on two strong legs. It might have been otherwise. I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood. All morning I did the …

June 24, 2009 – 2:23 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Tagged | Comments (3)

On Weighing Stones: Thoughts on Ario Farin’s “Up, up and away!”

Up, up and away! Ario Farin I weigh every stone you lay in my hand. I measure the diameter and the thickness For perfect erosion. This white one spins Cloudy like a Saturn ring on the wash, the bones imprisoned dive and splash apart Into fish-gill ripples. Do it again! Do it again! You implore …

June 23, 2009 – 2:04 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Comments (4)

Under No Circumstances Should Jon Corzine Be Reelected Governor of NJ

Please do click the links. There are lots of pertinent issues on the table. I’m not sure whether Jon Corzine is corrupt or incompetent; the more I read about his job performance, the more I subscribe to the latter. He is more than willing to be surrounded by those who are corrupt, and as you …

June 22, 2009 – 5:17 pm | By ashok | Posted in politics | Comments (0)

Open Thread: Traffic at Major Political Blogs is Down (via Bloggasm); does that mean anything?

First, the numbers, which I think are self-explanatory and can be given a pretty obvious explanation for the most part (we’re not in an election cycle, blah blah): May ’09 political blog readership 53% lower than in Oct. 08. Now what I want to know is what any of this means, if anything. I’m tempted …

June 18, 2009 – 12:23 pm | By ashok | Posted in blogging, politics | Comments (8)

Preliminary Speculative Note on Strauss’ “Niccolo Machiavelli”

Page references are to Leo Strauss’ “Niccolo Machiavelli,” found in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, ed. Pangle, pp.  210-228 The judicious alternation of virtue and vice is virtue (virtu) in his [Machiavelli's] meaning of the word (215). In [Discourses] II 13, Machiavelli asserts and in a manner proves that one rises from a low or …

June 17, 2009 – 12:13 pm | By ashok | Posted in politics | Tagged | Comments (2)