Nexus

I have a new 'scholarly' publication at Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal. This is a fine journal with a noble purpose: to rescue the author Henry Miller from the dismissive, modernist critics of the 20th Century, the dismissive, puritanical folks who banned him, and even the welcoming, uncritical critics who embraced him.



RC, at the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company, states about my essay in Volume 6:

"In Miller’s Colossus Of Maroussi, the Greek landscape is described with a grand and pronounced lyrical style, which seems uncharacteristic when one considers the city-centered novels that preceded it. In this essay, Lehman suggests that this change was influenced by Miller’s reading of Richard Jeffries’ The Story of My Heart, which viewed the English countryside for its social and spiritual symbolism, and not merely as geography. Through Story (which he read before writing Maroussi), Miller found a kindred spirit in Jeffries, whom he wrote about in his Books In My Life. Several key links are made between the two books, including the portrayal of natural landscape as having a transformative effect on human character and soul."

He also gives a good rundown of the contents of the journal.

Sprout




The hushed news of winter's end
will not reach the earth in time
to speed the patterns of change.
Damp and capable, the first days
of spring chill the ground, the birds
and the heart. The lustful
frost returns, unexpected, tricking
the panicky bud who peeps
through plotted soil, skinny
wholehearted, and fearless,
until the sun eases out again
with its adorned messages
as bright and sweet as ripe honeycomb.

-Amy Nawrocki

Originally published in Slow Trains Literary Journal, 6.2

Travel and Adventure



My Literature of Travel and Adventure class heading out onto Fayerweather Island. It's a lesson in how travel and even adventure starts right at home. We found the tracks of raccoons and cats, and evidence of deer.

"The sea is a treacherous friend." - Catherine Moore, lighthouse keeper for 61 years, and most famous resident of Fayerweather Island.

Women's History Month




Just a little reminder of what sort of nonsense women have had to go through to gain the rights of human beings. Of course, I like how suffrage would "double the irresponsible vote." Think about it.

The struggle goes on throughout the world today.

In other news, the strongest woman I know, my wife, will be giving a reading next Sunday, April 5, at the Newtown Library. Copies of her book, Potato Eaters, will be available and refreshments will be served. See you there!

French Fare in Bridgeport

Once in a while I'd like to include a place that I have found in my travels that I really love. Here's one:



The Escargots Bourguignonne were full of garlic-butter goodness, the cheese and charcuterie plates are divine, and the steak au poivre is no slouch either. I couldn't even make it to their mouth-watering desserts...

211 State Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Be there.

Umbrella

Check out my new book review at the popular internet journal Umbrella.

Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.

- A.E. Housman