The Most Popular Parlando Project Piece of Spring 2021

1 A High-Toned Old Christian Woman  and First Fig  by Wallace Stevens and Edna St. Vincent Millay   It seemed like an odd pairing. So much so that I wondered why I thought it might work. Wallace Stevens, who looked like what he was, an insurance executive; and Edna St. Vincent Millay, the beautiful bohemian New … Continue reading The Most Popular Parlando Project Piece of Spring 2021

Modes of Emily Dickinson: I Am Afraid to Own a Body

Let us return to the genius of Emily Dickinson, as we have regularly here at this Project. As I look to her work over the years, I find that Dickinson has several modes. In one mode, her approach is charming, a just-between-slightly-weird-friends sharing of concrete observations of people and the physical world. Even when that … Continue reading Modes of Emily Dickinson: I Am Afraid to Own a Body

The Death of Guillaume Apollinaire for National Poetry Month

World War I entered the worlds of both of our last two poems, and that war’s poetry was one theme we visited over the early years of this Project that coincided with the centennial of that conflict. The interaction between that war and the arts was complex, but here’s a simple question: did WWI cause … Continue reading The Death of Guillaume Apollinaire for National Poetry Month