Words for Thought
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January 11, 2022
Photo by Sourabh Panari / Unsplash Today is publication day for a new translation of Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural, a Tamil masterwork of poetry and practical philosophy. Thi... -
December 19, 2016 |
The game Life Is Strange from Dontnod Entertainment features a vast choice system and great writing. Narrative form has come a long way from its antiquated beginnings. From verbal storytelli... -
May 19, 2015 |
Painting from the General Yue Fei Memorial Temple, Hangzhou | Photo by Chrisjtse It is puzzling that the closer China relates to the West, the more the West looks at everything Chinese as “other.” Of... -
January 21, 2015 |
Certain cherished books are like old loves. We didn’t part on bad terms; but it’s complicated, and would require too much effo... -
January 8, 2015 |
Self-portrait w/ iPhone. Courtesy of the author. @ war you cannot say yeah I participate in the war but I isolate myself I separate myself I sing & I celebrate #I I I it is not... -
August 6, 2014 |
Photo (left to right): Dorothy Stafford, Kit Stafford, Hideo Hashimoto, and William Stafford. Courtesy: Aubrey Watzek Library Special Collections and Archives, Lewis & Clar... -
August 4, 2014 |
Photo by M./Flickr Today on the phone,first time in thirty years,my friend didn’t know me.Who? Where do you live?Where did we meet?She’s been slipping for a while.I wonder if that’s how God feelsab... -
July 29, 2014 |
Gaza Once in a tiny stripdark holes swallowed heartsand one child told anotherwithdraw your breathwhenever the night wind... -
July 28, 2014 |
While staring at the paper on his writing desk, the author wonders whether he’s building a new Tower of Babel. There is a poem I know, by a poet who shall remain unnamed, in which the poet en... -
June 10, 2014 |
Photo by Giuliano Maiolini/Flickr Nobel laureate Tomas Tranströmer is a poet of great spirituality and depth, but his language is deceptively simple. The following essay examine... -
May 21, 2014 |
Book transformation, letters, envelopes, and bookmarks by Marilyse Figueroa. Photos by Jen Rickard Blair. Drawn to a book by its cover, a reader decides to give it to a friend. But on her... -
April 24, 2014 |
Photo: Spanish Ministry of Culture The 2013 recipient of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, Elena Poniatowska Amor, delivered her acceptance speech yesterday (April 23, 2014) on the annivers... -
April 23, 2014 |
Photo by andifansnet/Flickr. Adaption by Jen Rickard Blair. Poem in your Pocket Day is tomorrow (April 24th), and you can celebrate by carrying your favorite poem with you and sharing it with others... -
September 30, 2013 |
Photo zeze57/Flickr To celebrate International Translation Day, we’ve invited translations of the following quote—about translation—by Andrés Neuman, the 2009 Alfaguara Prize-winning author and 2014... -
April 2, 2013 |
An aphorism is a distilled, laconic reflection about the author’s intimate experiences of reality, expressed through paradox, provocation, or shocking self-disclosure. Aphorisms cannot be conceived th... -
February 21, 2013 |
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. played himself in the movie Back to School, where he comically helps the wealthy Thornton Melon (played by Rodney Dangerfield) in a homework scheme that backfires. “Dear M... -
January 14, 2013 |
Photo Baijg/Flickr Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Franz Kafka walk into a bar (unlikely perhaps, but a good hypothetical start to any joke). The bartender offers them ea... -
January 7, 2013 |
The Tigris River in Baghdad. Photo NewsHour/Flickr For nearly two years, I worked on poems about my father’s early years in Baghdad. Every now and again, I slipped an occasional question to my dad, h... -
November 28, 2012 |
Photo Flickr/CasualCapture It’s painful to hear people talk about my generation. The “millennials,” according to the critics, are a generation of addicts, our thumbs permanently scrolling through the... -
November 21, 2012 |
Photo Flickr/NedraI “Thanks-giving,” said Mr. K., my seventh-grade English teacher. “Repeat after me: Thanksgiving.” “Ssshthanks give in,” I said, but the word tumbled and hissed, turning my mouth in... -
September 6, 2012 |Twitter is perhaps the most dynamic social media platform available on the web. The Twitterverse is daily flooded with estimates of over 340 million bite-sized messages from its users, which total to...
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August 29, 2012 |
In this new series of blog posts we open a window into the creative spaces of our writers all around the world, getting a brief glimpse into how and where they each uniqely work through the creative p... -
July 25, 2012 |
Aphorisms were the form that gave me the most relief, that offered the deepest bloodletting. In the aphorism, I didn’t have to say “I,” I could just let the thing speak itself, so I didn’t feel compr...
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