Author Archives: admin

Anne Carson and Sappho

Posted on October 8, 2026 by admin

I was thrilled to see that Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in Literature today. To be honest, I know her mostly from the pages of the New York Review of Books over the years. Her essays are polymathic explorations … Continue reading →

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Hamlet and the Murder of Ophelia

Posted on September 28, 2026 by admin

I saw Hamlet in Seattle yesterday. It was an excellent production in a smallish, intimate theatre. Jacqui’s favorite soliloquy is the “Defy Augury” speech and Hamlet stood right in front of us to deliver it. By Hamlet, I mean the … Continue reading →

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Modern Poetry Reboot: Poetry Unbound

Posted on September 17, 2026 by admin

One of the things I noticed before I retired was that I found myself reading and re-reading the same poets. Classic poets, Romantic Era poets, Whitman, Dickenson, Pound, Eliot, Rimbaud, Beat Poets, etc. I needed to really up my game … Continue reading →

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Culture is Fun Until Someone Loses an Eye!

Posted on August 25, 2026 by admin

I found a great book in the library discard pile called “Art, Society, and Accomplishments: A Treasury of Artistic Homes, Social Life and Culture” edited by R. Barry Blackburn of the Blackburn Company, Chicago. It is an illustrated Victorian-era etiquette … Continue reading →

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Whose Odyssey is This?

Posted on August 7, 2026 by admin

I went to see Nolan’s Odyssey. And let’s get real here: it is Nolan’s Odyssey just as Emily Wilson’s Odyssey is hers, and Fagle’s is his. I did not go to the movie expecting a “faithful” translation of what we … Continue reading →

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Do We Need Another Dickinson?

Posted on July 6, 2026 by admin

I recently picked up a copy of The Pocket Emily Dickinson, edited by Brenda Hillman. This is a third edition. It was first published by Shambala Press as part of their “Shambhala Pocket Classics” series. There are a number of … Continue reading →

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Elisions: Transcriptions of Life – a Contemplation

Posted on June 16, 2026 by admin

My dad, Jim Cain, has a second chapbook of poetry out called “Elisions: Transcriptions of Life – a Contemplation.” It is a short companion to his previous volume “Turquoise Laughter.” He did a poetry reading a few months ago at … Continue reading →

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Loeb Editions and a Great Penthouse

Posted on May 13, 2026 by admin

Jacqui called me into her office to read an article in the New York Times about Maurice Templesman’s penthouse being for sale: The longtime Manhattan penthouse of Maurice Tempelsman, the Belgian-born diamond magnate who was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s companion for … Continue reading →

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Poem: What One Begins to See in the Stones

Posted on April 7, 2026 by admin

I can’t believe that I did not post this here, but I had a poem published “What One Begins to See in the Stones” in an online journal called Mediterranean Poetry: an odyssey through the mediterranean world. The poem was … Continue reading →

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Active Reading

Posted on April 7, 2026 by admin

C.S. Lewis, letter to Arthur Greeves (February, 1932; on Froissart): To enjoy a book like that thoroughly I find I have to treat it as a sort of hobby and set about it seriously. I begin by making a map … Continue reading →

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