“He had been fired from that job because he had broken into the sacramental wine and rung the bells all night long.” — Henry Miller, TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
Author Archives: Caroline M Cooper
Incantation of Two
I love that you do what you do
With holy rolling thunder.
And so from out the books to bring
A holy new high plunder.
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Dad Worked The Railroad
Really listen to people’s stories. Get the hell out of your own way and listen. Take down every word, everything that’s “messed up” or “doesn’t sound right”. Let there be awkward silence and open spaces. Let the person speak. You just write. Then step back. You’ll have something amazing and the piece will have, more or less, written itself. It’s the Shake-n-Bake of writing exercises and I stand by it every time. Tonight I interviewed my Dad.
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Gogol and the “Credible Nose”
Yesterday was Nikolai Gogol’s birthday, born 1809. When he was about 20, the Russian writer spent his time running around St. Petersburg trying to land a civil service job. But he dreamed of writing poems and stories. So he self-published a piece he had worked on for years.
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To Have and To Hold
To Die Alone
I went walking down the street on Friday afternoon with a friend who was lamenting his love life, or the dim prospect of the demise of his love life. This makes no sense because his love life is in tiptop shape. The one he has can’t imagine life without him. I have this on very good information. But in the vein of “anything can happen” he added: “I look at you and I’m like, oh my god, am I going to die alone too?”
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Yes, The Bejeweled Shower Shoe
Ooooh I love a truly ridiculous purchase. Nothing staves off work– real work– which can include defrosting the freezer or removing crud from the gutters or re-grouting the kitchen sink or lesson planning or just putting paid to the dirt of a new poem, yes, real work, nothing staves it off like a ludicrous purchase.
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Mouthing an Anguished “BUTTER”
After careful consideration and no small amount of research—four biographies read, the collected letters, her later and lesser works—I have purchased a hardcover copy of Julia Child et al’s seminal Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
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Ok, I Will Hunt With You
Forgetful houndstooth
And nary a sweater
For walking the whippoorwills
In this kind of weather.
Brigadoon, Redux
Take the measure of your day,
What do you see?
Accomplishments scamper,
no bigger than fleas
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Caroline M Cooper 