Mark Strand

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STRAND

I don’t know why teachers are afraid of the experience of the poem . . .

INTERVIEWER

Well, because it would be like passing out drugs in class, I imagine.

STRAND

Poetry is a high. It is a thrill. If people were taught to read poetry in the right way, they would find it extremely pleasurable.

-- Mark Strand at The Paris Review

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I think they are talking about something that cannot really be taught, and you also probably have to be a little old to experience poetry very deeply. I suspect you must also know the pain of life and feel a little hunger for death, with the desire to experience the beauty of this tragic life before you do die. But I am just guessing.

American Psycho

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“We need to talk,” I say quietly.

She puts her empty water glass down and stares at me. “Patrick,” she begins. “If you’re going to start in again on why I should have breast implants, I’m leaving,” she warns.

I consider this, then, “It’s over, Evelyn. It’s all over.”

-- “American Psycho” by Bret Easton Ellis

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The Hardcover Journals

I finished my fourth little handwritten hardcover journal, finally! I knew it was going to take a while. To recap, I moved on to a slightly larger size, having an extra inch in breadth and thirty more pages, and my pace in filling these books is indeed slower. The next one will probably not be done before the Spring. This fourth one, though, comes with a great relief. Although I am not reading these little journals as much as I first intended, I was anxious to get some new material. I still rely on these journals hard. There are times when I simply hunger to read something quick that is chock full of sentimental value, such as a meaningful quotation, or a heartfelt poem, or a snippet of a dream that I had one restless night, or just a memory that means a lot to me - from a life that has too few memories that I can hold precious.