Homegoing

Homegoing

The men continued sipping the wine in silence for a while. In the trees, the birds were calling each other to sleep. A spider crawled over James’s bare foot, and he thought of the Anansi stories his mother used to tell him, and still told his younger brothers and...
Silence

Silence

IndeterminacyArtists talk a lot about freedom. So, recalling the expression “free as a bird,” Morton Feldman went to a park one day and spent some time watching our feathered friends. When he came back, he said, “You know? They’re not free:...
Heroes of the Frontier

Heroes of the Frontier

“My kids should eat,” Josie said, hoping to focus herself and Sam on practical matters. “Doug’s on it,” Sam said, nodding toward a bonfire, which Josie realized was also the barbecue. This was a barbarian arrangement — a vast open fire being fed with giant logs, and...
La Bonne Chanson

La Bonne Chanson

The morning sun serenely warms and gilds The rye and corn still damp in dewy fields, The sky has kept the freshness of the night. One wanders out just for the sake of it, Beside the river with dim yellow weeds, Along a grass path edged by alder-trees. The air is...
Auto Da Fé

Auto Da Fé

As he was passing by the cathedral, warm, uncanny sounds reached his ears. He would have sung in the same key, had his voice, like his mood, been at his command. Suddenly a spot of dirt fell on him. Curious and startled, he looked up at the buttresses. Pigeons preened...