ER News

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Old Fashions

This poem was in the April 27th NYRB. It's great.


OLD FASHIONS
Julia Hartwig (Translated from the Polish by John and Bogdana Carpenter)

I remember an old, meticulously executed print.
Swallowed by a whale, a small man with a frock coat sits inside its belly at a small table, lit by an oil lamp.
But from time to time the whale gets hungry. And here is the second print.
A powerful wave of seawater rushes through the throat to the belly, with a shoal of swallowed small fish.
The table with the lamp is knocked down; the small man, diving, nestles against the slick wall of the whale's massive bulk.
After the wave's retreat he sets up his table, hangs the lamp, and begins to work.
Perhaps he is studying the Old Testament? Perhaps he is studying maps?
What else could be of interest to a traveler miraculously saved from a shipwreck?
I often think of this print as I lay books down on my table for work, after tightly closing windows and doors.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Stringer for the Kettering Foundation Friday Letter

Margaret: Thank you very much. It gives me great pleasure to announce that, having filed this report, you have become a fully accredited "stringer " for the Friday Letter. You have been the Letter's most faithful, professional, energetic contributor for many editions and it is high time that you be recognized for your service to the KF Family. You are the first, and, for the moment, only "stringer." Others who send in notes are contributors, but you have the high honor of being an official "stringer." The pay isn't any better but you have bragging rights. Congratulations!. Bob