Most Recent Posts
Life in the Box: Team Names
August 10th, 2022 | Television | No Comments
I’ve been thinking for a while now that people who believe mainstream media is factual, and that the last election was fair, and that facts and evidence and laws and reason still matter, well, I think we need at team …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Reviewing the January 6th Hearings
August 4th, 2022 | Television | No Comments
Aug 03, 2022 : I was going to write a summary and critique of the televised January 6th Committee hearings. Then, I started seeing some very good synopses from news organizations like National Public Radio and others. See my …
Read MorePoetry: Dog Days 2022
August 3rd, 2022 | Poetry | No Comments
Someone Just Like You
Have you ever met someone
who reminded you of yourself?
Is this world large enough to
house someone that is just like you?
Would this person be as mean…
Read MoreLife in the Box: Flora
July 22nd, 2022 | Television | 1 Comment
I have been nibbling on a beautiful and tasty book this summer: “Flora: Inside the Secret World of Plants.” I was drawn to it like a “male pollinator” lured to a flower by the “fragrance of females ready to …
Read MoreFred Lisaius
July 21st, 2022 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Mountain Garden, acrylic on wood panel, 24″ x 30″
Every Little Thing, acrylic on wood panel, “60” x 48″
Letting the Light Back In, acrylic on wood panel, 48″ x 36″
Moon Glow, acrylic on wood …
Read MoreVia Basel: Essays and Anniversaries
July 16th, 2022 | EIL Blog | 2 Comments
A favorite pastime of mine is reading short insightful articles and essays in addition to books of fiction and nonfiction. They stimulate my imagination, inform and inspire me, at times all in one sitting. …
Read MoreBook Review–The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón
July 8th, 2022 | Book Reviews | 1 Comment
The Hurting Kind
by Ada Limón
Milkweed Editions, 2022
reviewed by Bethany Reid
In Ada Limón’s superb, tender new book, The Hurting Kind, the world has broken down. This is her pandemic book, so, no surprise: “I write …
Read MoreMusic for Music: Everywhen
July 7th, 2022 | Music | No Comments
Art collaboration by Jonathan Kawchuk, Tracy Maurice, and Brad Necyk
Trailblazer: Jonathan Kawchuk
By Dan Ursini ©2022
Music about a place (“A Summer Place,” “Woodstock,” “Tobacco Road,” etc.) is one thing. But I have been listening to music by a …
Read MoreVia Basel: Musings and Megaphones
June 26th, 2022 | EIL Blog | 3 Comments
I sit down,
The mind empty and full,
The body calm and restless,
The soul heavy and light.
Perpetual motion in solid presence.
I dwell in the moment,
The present moment.
A most precious and …
Read MoreBirds in Poems
June 22nd, 2022 | Poetry | 1 Comment
Three Poems by Michael Hettich
The Pigeons
We sat in the kitchen talking about
the way the light fell through the window.
You said it made you remember something
about a particular person you’d loved
without …
Carol Coates
June 16th, 2022 | Artist Watch, Mixed-Media, Painting | No Comments
MindsEye III, mixed media on board, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye V, mixed media on canvas, 38″ x 56″
MindsEye VI, mixed media on board, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye IX, mixed acrylic media on canvas, 48″ x …
Music for Music: Maya Youssef
June 13th, 2022 | Music | No Comments
Maya Youssef with qanun; photo credit: Nick White
Home Within: Maya Youssef
By Dan Ursini
©2022
To anyone familiar with the music of Maya Youssef, it is no surprise that her first album was produced by Joe Boyd, whose credentials …
Read MoreWhen, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes…
June 10th, 2022 | Book Reviews | No Comments
the fact of memory: 114 ruminations and fabrications
by Aaron Angello
Rose Metal Press, 2022
reviewed by Seana Graham
The idea for this book came from a writing workshop that the Aaron Angelo attended. The participants were asked …
Read MoreMichael Hettich: New Poems
June 8th, 2022 | Poetry | No Comments
Some Days
I’m a vestigial bone in the body
of a nearly-extinct mammal that’s being
studied by a team of graduate students
who keep it in a cage and watch what it does
when they give …
Read MoreVia Basel: Violence Unhinged
June 4th, 2022 | EIL Blog | 5 Comments
In the past, bad news came late, in bits and pieces and invariably altered by the many communication vehicles in between. Until it happened to you it was “there,” away from you, in place and …
Via Basel: Contradictions of the Mind
May 25th, 2022 | EIL Blog | 3 Comments
I am happy for lots of reasons, mostly personal.
I am unhappy for a variety of others, communal & global.
I love and accept people, family, friends, and others not so close.
I disagree and reject …
Read MoreKreg Yingst
May 19th, 2022 | Artist Watch, Music | No Comments
Bird in the Wind [Vera Hall], hand-painted block print
Brotherly Love [Eric Bibb], hand-painted block print
Cotton Fields (Back Home) [Robert Johnson], hand-painted block print
Get on Your Knees and Pray [Keb Mo], hand-painted block print
Hard Times [Skip James], …
Life in the Box: May Flowers
May 14th, 2022 | Television | 1 Comment
I was in Boston one February and the crocuses were blooming. This shocked me because I had never seen them so early—it was winter, after all, not spring.
As sure as March comes in like a lion and goes out …
Read MoreThe Present Thickness of the Smog
May 13th, 2022 | Book Reviews | No Comments
Moscodelphia
by Charles Rafferty
Woodhall Press, 2021
reviewed by Seana Graham
Having read a couple of Charles Rafferty’s story collections now, I may have thought I knew what to expect going into this full length novel. And in fact, …
Read MoreStuart Greenman: The Turn of the Ratchet
May 6th, 2022 | Theatre | No Comments
Socket wrench with ratchet, Wikipedia
After years of writing plays, reading about writing plays, and pondering the writing of plays, I was left with a simple question unanswered: What exactly makes a scene? Besides a bunch of characters entering, …
Read MoreMother’s Day 2022
May 4th, 2022 | Poetry | No Comments
Mother’s Day is not all flowers and greeting cards. It’s complicated for some. That’s why our celebration at Escape Into Life contains humor, darkness, frankness, edginess, whatever it takes…
One Mother Drives Three …
Read MoreCeirra Evans
April 21st, 2022 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Everyone Needs a Lil’ Help, oil on canvas, 60″ x 36″, 2021
It’s Okay to Go Home, oil on canvas, 35″ x 48″, 2022
Those Who Can, Leave; Those Who Can’t, Teach, oil on canvas, 48″ x …
Via Basel: War, Peace and Responsibility- Part 2
April 7th, 2022 | EIL Blog | 3 Comments
Before I go any further, a bit on my background on this subject:
Born and raised in Iraq for over two decades, mostly 1950s and 1960s, I was a firsthand witness to the rise of a …
Read MorePoems about Poetry, 2022
April 6th, 2022 | Poetry | No Comments
It’s April, National Poetry Month, and we celebrate again with poems on poetry itself…! Happy reading.
When Beginning the Poem
may there be a listening
rather than a making
curiosity over expectation,
lightness and …
Read MoreBook Review: The Girl Who Wasn’t and Is
March 30th, 2022 | Book Reviews | No Comments
The Girl Who Wasn’t and Is
by Anastasia Walker
bd.studios.com in New York City, 2022
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
March came in like a lamb around here and is exiting like a lion, in winter. Anastasia Walker …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Why Photoshop?
March 25th, 2022 | Television | No Comments
Adobe Photoshop is hard to learn. The icons aren’t self-explanatory. The layers and masking seem indecipherable at first. Why would anyone try to learn it? My reason for learning it is that it does things I’ve always wanted to do …
Read MoreVia Basel: War, Peace, and Responsibility
March 23rd, 2022 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Castle Romeo, 1954, Bikini atoll
It is generally acknowledged by historians that throughout human history the default condition was war and violence with short interludes of real peace interspersed in between. Because of advancement in the killing machines, a peak …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Photography Snapshot
March 19th, 2022 | Television, Uncategorized | No Comments
We had a darkroom in our basement when I was a kid. The bathroom door would shut and keep out light, and there was room for a card table where we set up the enlarger to print photos of our …
Read MoreSteven Kenny
March 17th, 2022 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
The Asteroid Hat, oil on panel, 12″ x 12″, 2021
The Brink, oil on linen, 36″ x 18″, 2021
The Glade II, oil on canvas, 30″ x 22″, 2021
The Ribbons, oil on canvas, 40″ x …
Julie Brooks Barbour: New Poems
March 9th, 2022 | Poetry | No Comments
Woman as Pylon in an Empty Lane
I make all the right moves. Blinker signals my right turn. I brake at the all-way stop. But a Dodge Ram is in such a rush they swerve around …
Read MoreDana Ellyn
February 17th, 2022 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Dodgeball (Back to School), oil on canvas, 16″ x 20″, 2021
Doing Shots, acrylic on board, 16″ x 24″, 2021
Birthday Selfie (Life During Quarantine), oil on canvas, 16″ x 20″, 2020
A Level of Malaise, …
Men in Love II
February 9th, 2022 | Poetry | No Comments
Love Poem
If it were Valentine’s Day and I in jail
and in love with the jailer’s daughter,
I’d write a letter
praising her brown eyes and long black hair.
From behind bars I’d …
Music for Music: Heirloome’s Cycles
February 4th, 2022 | Music | No Comments
Heirloome’s Cycles
By Dan Ursini © 2022
A haunting blended tone, both grounded and ethereal, defines Cycles, the latest release by a singer-songwriter who self-identifies as “queer/nonbinary Australian artist Heirloome (they/them).” This music is imbued by a unique vibe …
Read MoreVia Basel: Winter Blues, and a Plea
January 22nd, 2022 | EIL Blog | 5 Comments
Growing Weary, by Diana Lemieux
Forget the pandemic, the sickness of loved ones, and the personal setbacks. Yes, they’re difficult, but I can deal with them, and adjust, as many are doing, some more successfully than others. What really …
Read MoreMarcin Owczarek
January 20th, 2022 | Artist Watch, Collage, Mixed-Media, Painting, Photography | No Comments
In Search of Arcadia II, mixed media photography on aluminum, 26″ x 39″, 2020
In Search of Utopia, mixed media photography on aluminum, 26″ x 39″, 2019
The Golden Age, mixed media photography on aluminum, 26″ x …
Book Review: Wiping Stars from Your Sleeves
January 12th, 2022 | Poetry | 1 Comment
Wiping Stars from Your Sleeves
by David James
Shanti Arts Publishing, 2021
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
Cover image: Greg Rakozy on unsplash.com
As I was wiping the dust of 2021 from the edges of the new …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Breathing the Last of 2021
January 6th, 2022 | Television | 1 Comment
January 5, 2022
2021 is over. I almost said “thank goodness,” but that’s not exactly how I feel. A lot of great things happened last year. But it’s hard to take a deep breath and approach 2022 without knowing that …
Read MoreScott Klavan: The I HATE AMERICA Plays
December 31st, 2021 | Theatre | No Comments
The I HATE AMERICA Plays
Broadway reviews by Scott Klavan
Girl From the North Country
Belasco Theatre, November 20, 2021
&
The Lehman Brothers Trilogy
Nederlander Theatre, December 18, 2021
This is a review of two …
Read MoreVia Basel: Fifty Years
December 28th, 2021 | EIL Blog | 5 Comments
50 years, A Reflection
On this day December 28, 50 years ago, I landed in NYC on board a BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) aircraft from London. In a few days I would start an internship at the Stamford Hospital …
Read MoreJanet McKenzie
December 16th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Jesus of the People, oil on canvas, 30″ x 48″, 1999
The Divine Journey — Companions of Love and Hope, oil on canvas, 42″ x 54″, 2017
Holy Mother of the East, oil on canvas, 30″ x …
Dave Awl: New Poems
December 8th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
The Points of the Star
I.
Hands, feet and head, the points of the star:
the body a trail we leave behind us in time.
Headless the body paces along the shore,
waiting for the soul …
Via Basel: Beyond Words–The irony of it
November 25th, 2021 | EIL Blog | 1 Comment
Drawing by Christopher Al-Aswad
I want you to go deep, to be non-verbal, using no vocabulary or language. Try not to think or have your mind play games with you. Can you go back to a time of your ancestors, …
Read MoreBook Review: What Happened Was:
November 24th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
What Happened Was:
by Anna Leahy
Harbor Editions, 2021
an imprint of Small Harbor Publishing
Cover art by Stacy Russo, Women Gathering to Create Beauty
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
This is such a wonderful chapbook. It’s the …
Read MoreMusic for Music: Cevanne’s Own Voice
November 23rd, 2021 | Music | No Comments
The Voice of Welcome: Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian
by Dan Ursini ©2021
There are many additional compositions on Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian’s album Welcome Party that I could eagerly talk about beyond those already discussed in part one of this article. Indeed, there are …
Read MoreMusic for Music: Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian
November 23rd, 2021 | Music | No Comments
A Best Sort of Welcome: Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian
By Dan Ursini ©2021
Lovely, unexpected connections inspire throughout Welcome Party, the debut classical album by British-Armenian composer, singer, and harper Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian. This is daring and ambitious music— yet presented in …
Read More2021 Pushcart Prize Nominees
November 20th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Elise Macdonald, Girl with the Peacock Earring
Pushcart Prize Nominees in 2021
Please join us in congratulating these poets, whose poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Anna Leahy, “What Happened Was: My Mother Was Pregnant With Me”
Richard …
Read MoreJodie Kain
November 18th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Featherweight Champ, graphite, pastel, white conte, 8″ x 9″, 2021
Olympian, graphite and white conte, 6″ x 7″, 2021
The Crystal Gazer, pastel, 16″ w by 18″ h, 2020
Grey Route Messaging, pastel, 9″ x 14″, …
Scott Klavan: Trouble in Mind
November 11th, 2021 | Theatre | No Comments
By Alice Childress, Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
Roundabout Theatre, Broadway, November 5, 2021
Reviewed by Scott Klavan
I was in the orchestra of the American Airlines Theatre, 42nd Street in the middle of Times Square, one …
Read MoreBook Review: Ticker by Mark Neely
November 10th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Ticker
by Mark Neely
Winner of the Idaho Prize for Poetry 2020
Lost Horse Press, 2021
Cover art ©Teun Hocks
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
Ticker, by Mark Neely, begins with disaster—specifically, the Challenger disaster, setting …
Read MoreBoo!
October 29th, 2021 | Book Reviews | No Comments
The Woman in Black
by Susan Hill
Hamish Hamilton, 1983, Vintage Books, 2011
reviewed by Seana Graham
You may be more familiar with this title than I was. I was just trying to find a good book to read for …
Read MoreCatOber 2021
October 27th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
It’s CatOber at Escape Into Life, when cats appear in poems, or pictures, in sometimes scary, sometimes sweet ways. Please click the poets’ names to see more of their work, and the artist’s name to …
Read MoreLauren Tilden
October 21st, 2021 | Artist Watch | 1 Comment
Dinah in March, oil on panel, 12″ x 12″
Covering, oil on panel, 18″ x 24″
Jairus’s Daughter, oil on panel, 36″ x 48″
Hurricane Ava, oil on panel, 20″ x 24″
September Wind, oil …
Via Basel: Why We Give
October 15th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Photo courtesy of Faith Decker for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
I am humbled and honored but mostly proud of my wonderful and generous daughter Mandy as we are both featured in this SAIC article linked below. …
Read MoreBook Review: Shade of Blue Trees
October 6th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Shade of Blue Trees
by Kelly Cressio-Moeller
Two Sylvias Press, 2021
Finalist for the Two Sylvias Press Wilder Prize
Cover art: “Gingko Porcelain Light Sculpture” by Andreea Braescu
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
What a beautiful and …
Read MoreA Cluster of Noisy Planets
October 1st, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Prose Poems by Charles Rafferty
BOA Editions, 2021
American Poets Continuum Series, No. 190
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
I love how this book begins, with “Greetings,” containing the sentences: “People of …
Read More2021 Best of the Net Artist Nominations
September 30th, 2021 | Artist Watch | No Comments
Dan Reisner, George Floyd, bronze, 30 cm x 48 cm x 43 cm (Photo: Ron Kedmi)
Hansa, Madonna del Mare Nostrum (Or, Cloak of Love), oil on canvas, 125cm x 125 cm
Adrienne Stein, Earth I, oil …
Read More2021 Best of the Net Nominations
September 29th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Please join us in congratulating Escape Into Life‘s poetry nominees for the 2021 Best of the Net anthology, with gratitude to Sundress Publications for offering this award series! Click the links below to find …
Read MoreElise Macdonald
September 16th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Teatime, oil on linen, 80 cm x 80 cm, 2021
Malachite Muse, oil on linen, 80 cm x 80 cm, 2021
Strelitzia, oil on linen, 70 cm x 80 cm, 2021
Girl with the Peacock Earring, …
Book Review: Marrow of Summer
September 8th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Marrow of Summer
by Andrea Potos
Kelsay Books, 2021
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
It’s late summer now. Already a few yellow stars from the sweetgum tree have fallen on the still-green lawn. It’s a glorious blue-sky day …
Read MoreLabor Day 2021
September 1st, 2021 | Poetry | 2 Comments
Art by Salma Arastu, My God is Near and He Listens
The Field
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth … –God
One day I went to the field which saw
the first …
Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal
August 25th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Like the Ashes
A somber day seems to be in store
for me. I feel like the ashes left
behind after a fire. The wind kicks
me all around. I hear echoes of my
shouts in …
Read MoreDog Days — Yun Gee Bradley
August 19th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Paper Art | No Comments
I Feel You, Hanji paper, 9″ x 12″, 2020
Contemplating, Hanji paper, 12″ x 9″, 2019
Looking at You, Hanji paper, 14″ x 11″, 2019
Take Me Home, Hanji paper, 12″ x 9″, 2019
Bobby (Commission), …
Dog Days 2021
August 11th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Autobiography of Desire
Only if I reach 100 years old will I write a very complete
autobiography. Not before…. –Mario Vargas Llosa
As I walk down the street the wind throws birds at me …
Read MoreA Family in Stratford
August 6th, 2021 | Book Reviews | No CommentsBook Review: Dialogue with Rising Tides
August 4th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Dialogues with Rising Tides
by Kelli Russell Agodon
Copper Canyon Press, 2021
Cover art: René Maltête, La bouée
What a sad and lovely book. The cover shows a hand rising up through a lifebuoy, in a cry for …
Read MoreNotes on What Happens is Neither
July 30th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
What Happens is Neither by Angela Narciso Torres
Four Way Books, 2021
Cover art: “The Art of an Artist,” Alexandra Regina Morales
My notes tell me my plan was to review this book in May, and I was on …
Read MoreVia Basel: A Friendship Born in Bhutan
July 27th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Basel & Wolfie in Bhutan
In January 2008, many moons ago, I embarked on a most interesting and exotic trip to The Kingdom of Bhutan and northern India. It included a nine-day trek of the Himalayan foothills in Bhutan, where …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Lightness and Joy
July 22nd, 2021 | Television | No Comments
Maybe it’s the Demerol. I hope not. This morning, the day after my colonoscopy, I awoke with a feeling of lightness, happiness and a quiet glow of joy in my heart (and intestines.) Yes, a day of fasting and then …
Read MoreBarbara Sabol
July 21st, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Miss Elizabeth Bryan
Victim #71: Age about seventeen. Of Germantown, Philadelphia. Brown dress.
Bracelet, seven strands and locket with initials, “E.M.B.”
How wildly the scene outside my coach window
transformed as the Day Express swept
into …
Via Basel: My Glorious Ornamental Pear Tree
July 16th, 2021 | EIL Blog | 1 Comment
In this month on the 11th anniversary of your escape and the 42nd anniversary of your birth, I humbly offer this poem:
My Glorious Ornamental Pear Tree
That was what the arborist called you,
minus the “glorious,” ten years ago.…
Bo Bartlett
July 15th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Hurtsboro, oil on linen, 70″ x 120″, 2021
Crowd Scene, oil on linen, 72″ x 132″, 2020
Georgia, oil on linen, 60″ x 80″, 2021
The Thin Veil, oil on linen, 82″ x 100″, 2020
Motherland…
Read MoreVia Basel: In Defense of Idleness and Sauntering
June 18th, 2021 | EIL Blog | 2 Comments
Not every human activity has to have a purpose or meaning. Efficiency and busyness are overrated in my book, ideas I have believed in for a while now, but which have been brought more into focus since the pandemic descended …
Read MoreMary Lou Dauray
June 17th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Indian Paintbrush and the Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole Wyoming National Park, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 30″, 2020
Great Smokey National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 30″, 2020
Zion National Park, Utah, acrylic on …
Let Them Be Left: Isle Royale Poems
June 9th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Let Them Be Left: Isle Royale Poems
by Keith Taylor
Alice Greene & Company, 2021
Cover: Kathleen M. Heideman
Illustrations: Melanie Boyle
What a charming and essential chapbook by Michigan poet Keith Taylor. It places us on Isle Royale, …
Read MoreBlack on White
June 4th, 2021 | Book Reviews | No Comments
Citizen: An American Lyric
by Claudia Rankine
Graywolf Press, 2014
reviewed by Seana Graham
I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.
Zora Neale Hurston
On the …
Read MoreThese Birds For Example
June 2nd, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary
“The birds flock to her, green-black crests
and useless claws.”
–Elizabeth Kerper, “Magritte Explains Ornithology”
The week after you download a dating app,
you give a man your …
Via Basel: Emerging From Isolation
May 29th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Over the last two decades, on a yearly basis I have attempted to go on a nature outdoor trip. It can be trekking, hiking, canoeing, or rafting and is usually far away from my Chicago home base. Most have been …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Pandemic Stories
May 26th, 2021 | Television | No Comments
May 26, 2021
In the days following the CDC’s “declaration of mask independence” my vaccinated friends and I have been taking cautious steps back into pre-pandemic life. A shopping trip, a small group indoor gathering, a test drive for a …
Read MoreElizabeth Kerper
May 26th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Photography by O. Winston Link
Memorial Day
The windows behind you face east and I can see the sky lighten
in the cut out spaces between buildings across the street–
can see it but am not watching so that each …
Dan Reisner
May 20th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Sculpture | No Comments
Inspiration, bronze, 40 cm x 25 cm x 8 cm (Photo: Avi Amsalem)
Love, bronze, 31 cm x 48 cm x 8 cm (Photo: Avi Amsalem)
Wound, 26 cm x 31 cm x 12 cm (Photo: Avi …
Music for Music: De La Chica’s Agatha
May 14th, 2021 | Music | No Comments
Photo of Julián De La Chica by Stan Ptisin
De La Chica’s Agatha: Image & Silence
By Dan Ursini
Usually I write about music that is complete on its own. But this time around, let’s explore music best understood …
Read MoreMother’s Day 2021
May 5th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
On the Beach, My Mother Comes Ashore
I preserve my sorrow in salt
as she emerges in the spray–
her face reflected in the tide
her eyes the same blue-grey
as the waves.
I …
Life in the Box: Minding my Mind
April 26th, 2021 | Television | 1 Comment
It’s not that I’ve run out of things to say, not exactly. There are still lots of words going through my head. The problem is that the things I want to say have already been said. I’ve said them. I’ve …
Read MoreJohn Sweet
April 21st, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
dear kathryn
feels like being alive,
like breathing,
nothing but sunlight and blue sky
at the end of winter,
the gentle collapse of dreaming cities,
of sleeping prophets,
and i am here in this room where…
An Assortment of Somebodies
April 16th, 2021 | Book Reviews | No CommentsHansa (Hans Versteeg)
April 15th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Painting, Uncategorized | No Comments
Le Petit Prince ou l’Apprenti Sorcier, oil on canvas, 100 cm x 150 cm, 2021
Omen, oil on canvas, 100 cm x 150 cm, 2021
Ophelia, oil on canvas, 74 cm x 110 cm, 2020
Pietà della …
The Truth About Poetry
April 14th, 2021 | Poetry | 1 Comment
The Truth of the Higgs Boson
We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry….—Niels Bohr
Since the sun is god,
there’s only starlight …
Via Basel: One Year and Counting
April 11th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
On March 16, 2020, I posted my first commentary on the pandemic in its early days, suggesting reflection and introspection as an antidote to the ennui resulting from the forced isolation and disruption of our …
Read MoreCollaboration: Marjorie Maddox and Karen Elias
March 31st, 2021 | Collaboration | 1 Comment
Two Hearts, Two Windows by Karen Elias
Poems by Marjorie Maddox. Photographs by Karen Elias.
Quarantine
—after the photograph by Karen Elias Two Hearts, Two Windows
Apart inside,
together they stare
not at each other
but at the worn world…
Scott Klavan on George Segal
March 26th, 2021 | Theatre | No Comments
The Two George Segals
I’d never watched the long-running ABC-TV sit-com The Goldbergs, because I was sad to see what had happened to George Segal. I was from Great Neck, the same hometown on Long Island as the actor, went …
Read MoreHeather Horton
March 18th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
The Outlier, oil on panel (diptych), 54″ x 72″, 2019 (Private Collection)
The Virago, oil on panel, 40″ x 60″, 2020 (Private Collection)
Paths to Wisdom, oil on linen, 4″ x 4″, 2020 (Private Collection)
Paths from …
Via Basel: I Am Not
March 14th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Inspired by Pope Francis’s recent visit to Iraq, and complementing my post six years ago, “I AM.”
I am not Catholic, but
I am in awe of Pope Francis’s courage and compassion.
I am not …
Read MoreAnna Leahy
March 10th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
What Happened Was: my mother was pregnant with me
What happened was | my mother was pregnant with me |
she mapped a way through without stopping |
What happened was | the dean thought she would stop |
the |
Music for Music: Dave Miller: Choosing Joy
March 4th, 2021 | Music | No Comments
Images by Mikel Patrick Avery
By Dan Ursini ©2021
The COVID-19 era is about many things, but joyful sunlit release is definitely not one of them. Yet that is precisely what comes through in the music of guitarist/composer Dave Miller’s …
Read MoreYahia Lababidi
February 24th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
I Get It, Now
Reviewing the drama of my life
sometimes, I pause and wonder
was this or that incident intended
for my enjoyment or torment?
How about this or that person
do they represent pleasure or …
Frantisek Strouhal
February 18th, 2021 | Artist Watch, Mixed-Media, Painting | No Comments
A Tale Has Been Born, oil printing/mixed-media work on paper, 23″ x 20″, 2020
Blissful Reverie, oil printing/mixed-media work on paper, 24″ x 20″, 2020
The Tree of Life, oil printing/mixed-media work on paper, 24″ x 20″, …
Via Basel: A Tale of Two Countries
February 14th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Code of Hammurabi
75th Birthday Post
The Longest Journey, Mesopotamia to The New World
Born in the land of the ancients,
of Warriors, Kings, and Prophets.
Civilization rises and empires fall.
His roots are deep,
his ancestors steeped
in faith …
Jennifer Finstrom: Dating in Middle Age
February 13th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
John William Waterhouse, Psyche Opening the Door to Cupid’s Garden
Ex-Husband
“The door swings open:
O god of hinges,
god of long voyages,
you have kept faith.”
– Margaret Atwood, “The Door,”
Say instead he is the man you met…
Always a Love Poem (Valentines 2021)
February 10th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
La Garza (The Crane)
She folds the first love letter he sent into an origami crane
and sets it afloat. She watches all the pretty words float downstream, words like: ‘rare’ and …
Life in the Box: Courting Trump’s Lawsuits
January 25th, 2021 | Television | No Comments
Now that Trump is out of office without a federal self-pardon, what can we expect as far as lawsuits against him? I did a few days of searching online, and came up with a list. It doesn’t include any actions …
Read MoreLife in the Box: How to Speak Democrat
January 23rd, 2021 | Television | No Comments
Our new President, Biden, the one who actually won the election by a landslide, has asked for this nation to come together and heal the divide. So, in that spirit, I am supplying a guide to those who lost the …
Read MoreToon Musings: Activity Corner, Epilogue
January 21st, 2021 | Artist Blog | No Comments
So where next for Dear Leader? He fled to his golf resort in Florida, but he is legally enjoined from living there permanently. New York City hates his living guts. In fact, in most of America he’s likely to be …
Read MoreNancy Pirri
January 21st, 2021 | Artist Watch, Sculpture | No Comments
Vera, ceramic, stain, and oils, 16″ x 4″
Vera (detail)
Vera 2
Iris, ceramic, stain, and oils, 14.5″ x 4″ (detail)
Iris (detail)
Iris 2
Kika, ceramic, stain, and oils, 18″ x 4″ (detail)
Kika (detail 2)…
Toon Musings: Activity Corner, Day 25
January 20th, 2021 | Artist Blog | No Comments
Well, it’s a wrap. Dear Leader has Left the Building, and is now just another bitter old bigot, nursing his many resentments, up to his bushy eyebrows in debt, and facing a lifetime in legal jeopardy. There were some nervous …
Read MoreBook Review: Three-in-One from Blue Lyra Press
January 13th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
Self-Portraits by Susanna Lang
Year of Convergence by Jennifer Grant
God of Sparrows by Christina Lovin
Three chapbooks bound together as Delphi Series Vol IX (Blue Lyra Press, 2020)
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
First, praise for the …
Read MoreToon Musings: Activity Corner, Day 13
January 8th, 2021 | Artist Blog | No Comments
Most people I know think wind turbines look rather majestic. In addition, they symbolize a better, cleaner, more responsible and sustainable world; indeed, they’re helping bring it about. Dear Leader hates ’em. He cares nothing for living sustainably or responsibly …
Via Basel: 3 R’s and a Labyrinth
January 8th, 2021 | EIL Blog | No Comments
I am part of a small meditation community that has met on Sunday evenings every other week for many years. Until the pandemic hit us, we gathered in a hall generously provided to us in a …
Read MoreToon Musings: Activity Corner, Day 11
January 6th, 2021 | Artist Blog | No Comments
Dear Leader is not happy. Congress is meeting to certify someone other than him to be president! What’s a statesman-patriot to do?! Why, exhort your fanatical, cultlike followers to stage your very own Reichstag fire-like disruption of the proceedings …
Read MoreRichard Jones: New Year, New Poems
January 6th, 2021 | Poetry | No Comments
One day he decided he wanted to live
in Vienna, to waste the summer musing,
maybe all of autumn, too, drinking sweet
tea in cafes and eating Sachertorte, listening
to Mozart and Brahms. He took a …
Book Review: This is Not…the End of the World
December 30th, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
(This is Not a) Mixtape for the End of the World
by Daniel M. Shapiro
Published by bd-studios.com in New York City, 2020
Cover design by luke kurtis
Art by Stephen Tornero
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
This …
Read MoreToon Musings: Activity Corner
December 27th, 2020 | Artist Blog | No Comments
Remember those advent calendars that always appeared during the holidays–the ones that counted down to Christmas? Sure you do! Well there’s another hotly anticipated event we’re all counting down to. Let’s count down together, shall we?
Join me here every …
Read MoreLauren Camp: New Poems
December 23rd, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
Revenge of Winter and Future
Upslant of light. A licorice wind along runnels of sky.
My left hand in a red glove on the bent spokes of a turquoise bike.
I ride uphill along the dominion …
Read MoreVia Basel: Successes, Failures, and Disasters
December 21st, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Serious Moonlight by Carol Lukitsch
What an irony: we crave success, but it’s mostly fleeting and rarely educational. We abhor failure, though it can be deeply transformative. As with all of you, over the years I’ve had my share of …
Read MoreSarah Summers
December 17th, 2020 | Artist Watch, Illustration, Painting | No Comments
Snowman Cuddles, 2019
Presents for the Dogs, 2019
Festive Tree, 2019
Tree Peonies, 2020
Long-Tailed Tit on Apple Blossom, 2020
Fawn in the Snow, 2019
Artist Statement
My work is endlessly inspired by and …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Photo Challenges
December 14th, 2020 | Television | No Comments
One of the earliest things you learn as a photographer is that looking at famous artworks will help develop your eye for lighting, placement, balance, and design. Most photographers embrace the possibility of using their camera as not just a …
Read MoreBriefly…
December 11th, 2020 | Book Reviews | No Comments
The Best of Brevity: Twenty Groundbreaking Years of Flash Nonfiction
edited by Zoë Boissiere and Dinty W. Moore
Rose Metal Press, 2020
reviewed by Seana Graham
Although I’ve become more aware of flash fiction through a circle of writers I …
Read MoreBook Review: Hotel Almighty by Sarah J. Sloat
December 9th, 2020 | Book Reviews | No Comments
Hotel Almighty by Sarah J. Sloat
Sarabande Books, 2020
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
Travel is out of the question, so the only hotel I’m staying in these days is Hotel Almighty by Sarah J. Sloat. Or …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Deep Thoughts about Deep States
December 7th, 2020 | Television | No Comments
I’ve been in a deep state before… a deep state of meditation. That’s the kind of deep state I believe in and enjoy.
Now I’ve heard tell about a deep state that is bad, mysterious, and shrouded in evil. Apparently, …
Read MoreMusic for Music: Demons and Angels
December 4th, 2020 | Music | No Comments
The Wood Demons: Rare and Welcome
By Dan Ursini © 2020
I am always excited about debut albums by bands which have been around for a while. The best of them include songs with the seasoned strength that results from …
Read MoreVia Basel: Recipient of Generosity, A Blessing
November 26th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Twenty four years old, graduated from medical school and just done with my two years of compulsory military service while I was serving in the Iraqi Armed forces in Jordan, I immediately traveled to Lebanon and was delighted to arrive …
Music for Music: Simeon Walker
November 20th, 2020 | Music | No Comments
Simeon Walker: Essential Space
By Dan Ursini, ©2020
British composer and pianist Simeon Walker is a leading UK figure in the Modern Classical movement. His new album, Winnow, is about a volatile subject: leaving behind a religion that was once …
Read MoreAnthony Apesos
November 19th, 2020 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Beached, oil on canvas, 28″ x 22″, 2019-2020
Beginning, oil on canvas, 28″ x 22″, 2019-2020
Cliff, oil on canvas, 28″ x 22″, 2019-2020
Crest, oil on canvas, 28″ x 22″, 2019-2020
Dragon, oil on …
Scott Klavan: Journey Into Zoom
November 16th, 2020 | Theatre | No Comments
There hasn’t been live indoor theatre in New York City since March. Many theatre-related jobs have melted away, temporarily or permanently, from actors and directors and playwrights, to costume and lighting designers, stage managers, from waiting …
Read MoreVia Basel: Resilience, Restoration…
November 13th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Traces of Home by Ellen Von Wiegand
Resilience, Restoration, Reconciliation
Reaching back to my own past when I was facing major life-shattering events, estrangement, divorce, and finally death of loved ones, going through these three phases–resilience, restoration, and reconciliation–was essential …
Read MoreToon Musings: Supremacy Isn’t Green
November 12th, 2020 | Artist Blog | No Comments
So here we sit, in the murky wake of a hotly contested election, watching the actual President having an actual temper tantrum, refusing to accept the results—and fully supported in this effort by the leadership of his actual political …
2020 Pushcart Prize Nominees
November 11th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Please join us in congratulating our Pushcart Prize nominees. Here are their poems, published in 2020 in Escape Into Life. You can click each poet’s name to see the work as it first appeared. The …
Read MoreFiction by Jessy Randall
November 5th, 2020 | Fiction | No Comments
The Lump
by Jessy Randall
The first time Hazel noticed the lump was when she got up in the night to use the bathroom. Half asleep, she lurched down the hallway, trailing her hand along the …
Read MoreAccidental Critic: 1001 Afternoons in Chicago
October 30th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
… Read More“Not that he had anything particular in his mind to write about. But the city was such a razzle-dazzle of dreams, tragedies, fantasies; such a crazy monotone of streets and windows that it filled the newspaper man’s thought from day
Accidental Critic: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey
October 23rd, 2020 | Book Reviews | No Comments
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey: A Novel
by Kathleen Rooney
Penguin Books, 2020
Reviewed by Kim Kishbaugh
More than six months into a pandemic isolation we initially hoped would last weeks, it’s hard not to think and speak …
Read MoreShrödinger’s CatOber 2020
October 21st, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
Matthew Murrey
Buried
Today our cat died—
the one that liked to sleep
on my chest, head by my chin—
and I’ll have to take the shovel
out back and start digging.
One love of my …
Read MoreTwo Offerings from Empty Bowl Press
October 16th, 2020 | Book Reviews, Poetry | No Comments
HOLD FAST by Holly J. Hughes
Empty Bowl Press, 2020
THE BLOSSOMS ARE GHOSTS AT THE WEDDING: EXPANDED EDITION by Tom Jay
Empty Bowl Press, 2019
reviewed by Bethany Reid
Recently Empty Bowl Press sent me two books. I …
Read MoreSteve Maphoso
October 15th, 2020 | Artist Watch, Drawings, Painting | No Comments
everything seems so bright, acrylic on stretched canvas, 65 cm x 55 cm, 2020
everything seems so bright, acrylic on stretched canvas, 65 cm x 55 cm, 2020
everything seems so bright, acrylic on stretched canvas, 40 …
Music for Music: Ranjana Ghatak: Stunning Debut
October 13th, 2020 | Music | No Comments
Ranjana Ghatak: Stunning Debut
By Dan Ursini ©2020
Ranjana Ghatak’s bold debut album, The Butterfly Effect, opens with considerable drama and surprise. This gifted vocalist trained in the tradition of the Classical Music of India, and that is …
Read MoreGreg Grummer
October 7th, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
Adam, In Search Of Music
I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music.
I see my life in terms of music. —Albert Einstein
Hmm, this bone would make
a nice flute, if …
Lost and Found
October 2nd, 2020 | Book Reviews | No Comments
Oreo, by Fran Ross
Greyfalcon House, Inc. 1974, New Directions, 2015
reviewed by Seana Graham
Sometimes, books arrive too early. Or maybe it’s just that they have to help create the audience that will later be ready to …
Read MoreVia Basel: An Assault
September 30th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Last night I was assaulted in my own apartment. No, it was not an intruder. Sitting on my couch I turned on the TV to watch the presidential debate just like millions of other citizens …
Read More2020 Best of the Net Nominations
September 30th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Please join us in congratulating Escape Into Life’s poetry nominees for Best of the Net 2020, for work published between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. Click the links in the list below to revisit …
Read MoreMatthew Guenette
September 23rd, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
The Other Way Around
My son asked for a quick bedtime story.
So I said time is the horizon of all being,
go to sleep. At which point he said
I think you’re wrong about that …
Jane Hickey Caminos
September 17th, 2020 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
World Upside Down, oil on linen, 22″ x 28″
Up on the Roofie, oil and colored pencil on linen, 24″ x 30″
Brothel Born, mixed media on linen, 16″ x 20″
Time Out, mixed media, 24″ …
Via Basel: Caste, A Masterpiece
September 11th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
In October, 2016, at a social gathering in my building I met a couple who lived in the suburbs but came downtown for weekends. They were lovely, well read, and we hit it off right away with our common interest …
Music for Music: Joe Clark: Breath is Truth
September 10th, 2020 | Music | No Comments
NIU Jazz Ensemble to record “Black and Cardinal”
Music for Music: Joe Clark: Breath is Truth
by Dan Ursini ©2020
Time and again, Chicago has risen from catastrophe and soared phoenix-like toward rebirth. But these comebacks are tragically incomplete. The …
Read MoreLabor Day 2020
September 7th, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
Opening the Cage
he finally retired at 65 after
a quarter century on the job
25 years cleaning toilets
25 years waxing and polishing floors
25 years scraping kids’ chewing gum
from …
Via Basel: A Perspective on the Past
August 28th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
I have a confession to make. I believe that I’m seen as forward looking, planning ahead and being an activist concerned about our country and the planet’s future from a variety of perspectives, social, economic, and environmental. I …
Read MoreDog Days – Sue Mooney
August 20th, 2020 | Artist Watch, Digital Art, Painting | No Comments
The English Pilot
Motorcycle Yorkie
Cool Pug
Cool Lab
Minnesota Dogs
Motorcycle Dachshund
Da Tongue Corgi
Artist Statement
It is my passions in life that have led the way to my art. I love to see people laugh, to …
Read MoreFor George Floyd, a Collaboration
August 12th, 2020 | Collaboration, Poetry | No Comments
Scott Poole, For George Floyd, June 2020
Thoughts Behind a Mask
Wearing a mask,
thinking about George Floyd’s
‘I can’t breathe,’
thinking about Jefferson mouthing
‘inalienable rights’ as he
pressed them into parchment,
thinking of a knee on …
Dog Days in Antarctica
August 5th, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
Poems by Marion Starling Boyer
The Sledging Commences
A golden shovel for William Carlos Williams
Ernest Joyce, January 24, 1915
In his great rush Mack’s risking our dogs, that I
know are unfit, and the men’s …
Book Review: Yvonne Zipter’s Greyhound
August 1st, 2020 | Book Reviews | No Comments
Kissing the Long Face of the Greyhound by Yvonne Zipter
Terrapin Books, 2020
Cover art:
Tulip Greetings by Elke Vogelsang
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor
How perfect to begin this book with “Summer Lament” in a …
Read MoreVia Basel: My Son, My Voice
July 27th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Dancing With Myself, Melissa D Johnston
My Son, My Voice: A Letter on the 10th Anniversary of Your Death
In nations, peoples, or even family histories, 10 years may not be enough time to look back and reflect, but …
Read MoreAdrienne Stein
July 16th, 2020 | Artist Watch, Painting | No Comments
Earth I, oil on linen, 8″ x 10″, 2019
Enchanted Crown, oil on linen, 8″ x 10″, 2019
Enchantress 2, oil on copper, 5″ x 7″, 2019
Last Light, oil on linen 7.5″ x 11″, 2019…
Dog Days 2020
July 15th, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
Ex Doesn’t Answer
And he always answers,
so I’m left to wonder
where he is, but also
how—did he wake today,
did he fall, did he clutch
at his sternum and gasp
for air, …
Scott Klavan: In Defense of Statues
July 11th, 2020 | Theatre | No Comments
I was teaching a remote Drama/Acting class for older adults and we were reading the play You Can’t Take It With You, Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s 1938 comedy about an eccentric New York city family fighting the conventionality …
Maria Garcia Teutsch
July 8th, 2020 | Poetry | No Comments
What the Condor Saw in Big Sur
At the edge–
spotted stones
and roiling kelp.
The day facets me in its diamond.
Wind-chimes are silent,
Buddha’s stone head bows.
A gap in the fence could tell–…
Via Basel: Dreamlike Reality
July 4th, 2020 | EIL Blog | No Comments
Cody, Wyoming, 2006
Have you ever read a gripping mystery novel and got really immersed in it? Did you feel that you are in the story, observing the characters and witnessing the events as they unfold as if you were …
Read MoreMusic for Music: Chris Warner
July 3rd, 2020 | Music | No Comments
Chris Warner: Stories within the Stars
©2020 by Dan Ursini
Chris Warner, the British composer of Wonders of The Cosmos, is a person of uncommon choices.
First and foremost is his career, demanding a highly rarefied skillset: writing …
Read MoreLife in the Box: Breath and Covid-19: Part Two
June 26th, 2020 | Television | No CommentsLife in the Box: Breath and Covid-19: Part One
June 25th, 2020 | Television | No Comments
“A lot of people, when they hear that you can’t completely get rid of your risk, they think, ‘Well, that means that it’s inevitable… “But there are lots of things you can do in between nothing and everything.”
Read MoreBook Review: Audubon’s Sparrow
June 24th, 2020 | Book Reviews | No Comments
Audubon’s Sparrow
A Biography-in-Poems
by Juditha Dowd
Rose Metal Press, 2020
Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk
What a wonderful book. Juditha Dowd has created a biography of Lucy Bakewell Audubon, a person in her own right but also the wife …
Read More