In Wordsworth’s autobiographical poem The Prelude—one of the great memory-epics, along with Proust’s—there is a section describing the process of recollection that speaks to me with particular relevance right now.…
Jean Rhys, 1975 by Bill Brandt When I was younger and more carefree, I really admired the flâneurs of Paris. Baudelaire, Baldwin, Sontag, Rilke. What I loved about these…
Neon red lettering reflects hard against my face, spelling out “LIQUOR” on the walls. My boyfriend, a computer scientist, is in the bathroom. His co-worker, John, who I’ve just met,…
One of the worst things is when people tell you that you look okay. People you hoped would know “I’m fine” means I’m scared, and “I’m OK” warrants a hug.…
1. Out of everything I have written, it’s my diaries where I have written the longest and with the most faithfulness. As a diarist, I’m an observer, a scribe of…
I remember being in a large white, paneled, cafeteria. There were about twenty vertical lunch tables for recipients to sit firmly while they waited for their names to be called.…
The year I moved to Chicago I was cast in a play that rehearsed at the School of the Art Institute. Each day when I arrived, I would pause at…
Image Credit: Thomas Deininger Face it. Wallace Stevens was sucking up to death when he called her the mother of all beauty. I can’t blame him. My mother was a…
As the new reviews editor, I guess it’s my job to introduce myself. Perhaps some of you want to know what on Earth Entropy’s up to, choosing this still-green writer…
Image Credit: Joseph Cornell, Object (Roses des Vents); 1942-53; Construction, 2 5/8 x 21 1/4 x 10 3/8 in; The Museum of Modern Art, New York Philosophy’s first question is…
When I was ten years old I tried to teach myself to speak and write Cantonese, using an old Chinese schoolbook I had found in the closet. At that age,…
Dear _______, I started reading forever ago. I’m not interested in the why, my longing for words almost aquatic—tangled in me like swamp root. Instead, I’m trying to write a…
The messages stream in, from friends, acquaintances, strangers. “Thought of you when I heard the news.” I am grateful for their thoughtfulness and ashamed at the attention. The well wishes…
Snow Days. They’re legendary. Mythical. Great, white unicorns or whales we chase in our sleep, wake up wishing we had caught or had caught us in the eye of their…