Greg Ward: Noble Quest

By Dan Ursini

©2024

Dion’s Quest by Greg Ward’s Rogue Parade contains nearly an hour of brilliantly layered music by a quintet that has developed into a magnificent jazz ensemble. Leader Ward wrote every song. He …

Aisle 228
by Sandra Marchetti

Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2023

Reivewed by Kathleen Kirk
EIL Poetry Editor

It’s baseball season, and I’m enjoying the baseball poems in Aisle 228, by Sandra Marchetti. It’s about baseball in general, …

All the Time You Want
Selected Poems 1977-2017
by Keith Taylor

Dzanc Books, 2024

Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk,
Poetry Editor, Escape Into Life

No matter the delay, I always manage to read the right book at the right time. …

Avoiding the Rapture
by Karen J. Weyant

Riot in Your Throat, 2023

Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk,
Poetry Editor, Escape Into Life

I suppose I’ve been avoiding the rapture for some time now, accidentally careful not to get swept up …

My Most Inspirational Book (so far), or The Monk and the Surgeon

On this day, 3/12/2024, I finished reading Notebooks of a Wandering Monk by Matthieu Ricard, all 700 pages of it. Overwhelmed, I feel I’m not able to fully …

“Johnny Get Angry, Johnny Get Mad… I want a brave man; I want a cave man…” I have been listening to 50s music this month, and some of the lyrics just kill me. The cave man lyric is sung with …

(For clarity’s sake, this was this year, not in 2004. Typo.)

When I got a call last month from author and editor Susie Bright inviting me to a Burns Supper right here in Santa Cruz, I eagerly accepted. While in …

Art by Jim Holyoak, Ghost Whale in a Ghost Forest

The Human or the Environment–An Ethical Dilemma?

I have been privileged to befriend a few well known teachers and scholars, mostly in Medicine and Mindfulness. Martin Marty, however, is …

Naomi Ashley: Love Bug

By Dan Ursini ©2024

The lyrics of country/roots music artist Naomi Ashley are poetic, instantly memorable—and they express wisdom of many different kinds. Ashley sings them in a voice that is pure lyrical honey. She …

Corona Girl: Fancy Bird Friend, acrylic/collage, 12 x 16 in, 2020

Corona Girl: Friendship is Golden, acrylic/collage, 12 x 12 in, 2020

Corona Girl: Undercover, acrylic/collage, 12 x 12 in, 2020

Corona Girl —Meditation, acrylic/collage, 12 x 12 …

Maysey Craddock, the light that traveled the shore

Via Basel: Insights from 50 Years of Orthopedic Practice

Recently I was approached by a young family member in his final year of college to give an informal lecture to a club …

The Pear Tree: elegy for a farm

by Bethany Reid 

MoonPath Press, 2024

reviewed by Carmen Germain

Tempted Away 

Bethany Reid’s award-winning new collection, The Pear Tree: elegy for a farm, contains plain-spoken elegies and lyrics. These are …

THE FAMILIAR: POEMS

by Sarah Kain Gutowski

TRP,  February 1, 2024

reviewed by Bethany Reid

To put it as simply as I am able, The Familiar is a book-length narrative in poems. It is also fabulist, absurdist, an existential …

We’re living in a turbulent and critical time. Change has always been around but in the modern era, especially the last few decades, the rate of change has accelerated to dizzying proportions. Anxiety and stress related to our inherent resistance …

FERN AT FIFTY-SEVEN

by Jessy Randall

            “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” I said to my mother as we were setting the table for breakfast. I really did say that, just like in my brother’s book. And when I found …

Maria Elena Silva: Dulce

By Dan Ursini  ©2023

The inventiveness, energy, and ambition of composer/singer Maria Elena Silva’s new album, Dulce, on the Big Ego label, is incredible. She creates music that reconfigures how songs are structured: how polyrhythms …

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

by Sherman Alexie, illustrations by Ellen Forney

Little, Brown 2007, paperback 2009

reviewed by Seana Graham

“Excellent in every way, poignant and really funny and heartwarming and honest and wise and …

Shift in Fate, Callous Hands Stitch Up A Calloused Hand; To Alter and Shift What Might Have Been, Now Scratched Out, acrylic and pastel on paper, 18” x 24”, 2023

 A Kind Hello: Passing Through- In Stampede of Chatter, …

On Wednesday, November 8th, an important anniversary was celebrated in ways both large and small in many parts of the world. Here in Santa Cruz, California, the 400^th anniversary of what has come to be known as the …

I suppose that,strictly speaking, a tour should have more than two stops, but Santa Cruz Noir had a mini revival this month, when some of the local writers and Susie Bright, the editor of this 2018 anthology, were invited …

Nina Platiša: Connectivity

By Dan Ursini
©2023

Composer/pianist Nina Platiša provides an assertive introduction to her music on her debut album, Za Klavir: For the Piano. No less than 26 original compositions for solo piano are included. Even more, …

Sabbath’s Theater

adapted from the novel by Philip Roth

by Ariel Levy & John Turturro

The New Group

Off-Broadway review—October 21, 2023

By Scott Klavan

Mickey Sabbath is a dirty man in the stage adaptation of Philip Roth’s 1995 …

Pichia, mixed media on wood panel, 12″ x 15″, 2021

Ethereal, mixed media on canvas, 16″ x 20″, 2017

Childhood, mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 10″, 2018

Dearest, mixed media on canvas, …

Art by Dena Shuckit

I try to avoid writing about current tragic events, but I fail most of the time. I write to relieve my angst. As a writer it makes me feels better to put my thoughts to print, …

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

Lippincott, 1960, Harper, 2015

Pulitzer Prize winner, 1961

reviewed by Janet Slagle

(Editor’s note: Much to my surprise and delight, my longtime friend Janet Slagle has taken up my challenge to write a …

Fair Duckies, Camera: Kodak Brownie Hawkeye

Tea Party Cowboy   Camera: Kodak Brownie Hawkeye

Powell Leaning Shed, Camera: Diana

Dead Cow & Girl, Camera: KMZ Yunkor

Trojan Helmets, Camera: KMZ Yunkor

Muley Point Pool, Camera: Kodak …

The Bluest Eye

by Toni Morrison

HRW 1970, Knopf 1993, Vintage 2007

reviewed by Seana Graham

Nuns go by as quiet as lust and drunken men and sober eyes sing in the lobby …

Art by Page Tsou

By now dear readers you surely have noticed my affinity for memories, story telling, and anniversaries. I ask your indulgence again.

In my May column I did mention an upcoming anniversary around this time commemorating 50 …

Photo by Mitch Dobrowner

I don’t subscribe to a very structured life at this stage in my life. Still out of necessity or habit I continue to plan to fill some voids here and there. Recently, in the last few …

Nostalgia

July-August, 2023

Theatre Reviews by Scott Klavan

Days of Wine and Roses, Off-Broadway

Goodnight, Oscar, Broadway

After attending two New York theater shows this summer, your reviewer was beset by nostalgia. Usually, I look at nostalgia, a yearning …

Grey Eyes, mixed media, 25″ x 16″

Grey Eyes, detail

Cut From the Same Cloth, mixed media, 22″ x 17″

Cut From the Same Cloth, detail

Mighty Oak, mixed media, 18″ x 23″

 …

Sculpture by Antony Gormley

A Type of Wisdom

We all flounder and fumble—
how could we not? It’s our first
and only time through this life.
 
Failure and doubt carry us
from one morning to the next
when we hope …

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

by Trevor Noah

Spiegel and Grau (div. of Random House) 2016, paperback 2019

reviewed by Seana Graham

A couple of nights ago, I watched an older YouTube video of Senator …

Ramzi N, May 2023, Chicago

To be honest, I’m at a loss. Not of words and sentences only, but also, emotionally, the result of a quick sequence of events and remembrances in the last few weeks. From a minor sadness …

The Tiger and the Cage
A Memoir of a Body in Crisis

by Emma Bolden

Soft Skull Press, 2022

Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk,
EIL Poetry Editor

Wow, what a great memoir. Beautifully written, gripping from the start, and I …

Julian Loida: Percussion & Connection

By Dan Ursini ©2023

Percussionist-composer Julian Loida has a new album, Giverny, that is a rarity – thoroughly inventive music that is immediately appealing.

Usually, music so fresh takes some getting used to. But …

The Evolution of Peace, by Paulo Sergio Zerbato

Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously mentioned the four freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.

As we approach the 4th of July, Independence Day, a …

Gravel Pit No. 3, pastel, 16″ x 20″, 2018

Alkali flats, mixed media, 50.5″ x 69″, 2023

What’s up with the Sky? mixed media, 44″ x 50″, 2019

Gravel Pit No. 1, pastel, 16″ …

Under a White Sky: the Nature of the Future

by Elizabeth Kolbert

Crown (hardback) 2021, Crown (paperback) 2022

reviewed by Seana Graham

Last Wednesday saw the final event of this year’s The Deep Read, a recently inaugurated UC Santa Cruz …

Neil T. Smith: Stop Motion Music

By Dan Ursini
© 2023

The music of young Scottish composer Neil Tòmas Smith is ideal for immersive listening—whether it is one of his fearless orchestral works like “Perihelion”—

or any of the several …

Midwest Hymns

by Dale Cottingham

Kelsay Books, 2023

reviewed by Lana Hechtman Ayers

Dale Cottingham’s Midwest Hymns are indeed true songs of praise. Though not religious, as the cover image of a church may imply, his poems embody the …

Art by Page Tsou

Chicago has been the object of my affection for close to five decades, since destiny brought us together in August of 1973 when I arrived to start my orthopedic residency. The relationship has not been easy, …

Digital cyanotypes by Ken Kashian

Fanny Hesse (1858-1934)
 
Watercolor dries quickly. Once it’s on the paper,
you have to move fast. No hurry, though, in the way it
bursts in the cup of water, suspended, like fruit in gelatin.
 
But …

Mother & I, digital photograph, 2021

Beyond the Veil, digital photograph, 2023

World on Fire, digital photograph, 2021

Self Portrait, digital photograph, 2021

Hangin in Brooklyn, digital photograph, 2019

Ghosts of Manhattan,  digital …

Art by Ilya Zomb

Michael Hettich

The Spitting Rain

She promises to catch me if I fall, as though
I’m way up high in a tree
and not walking on the sidewalk, holding her hand.
Just look at the leaves …

The Tree of Life by Frantisek Strouhal

For over a year after Chris passed away in July of 2010, I read his voluminous personal journals (all 70 of them) and along with his sister, Mandy, chose excerpts from them to …

Ways of Being

by Sati Mookherjee

MoonPath Press, 2023 (an imprint of Concrete Wolf Poetry Series)

reviewed by Bethany Reid

Ways of Being is Sati Mookerjee’s second book, and won the 2022 Sally Albiso Award in Poetry. As Rena …

Duy Huynh, Time Flies with Strings Attached

Recently I’ve been experiencing a certain unusual angst. On weeks that I have few planned events or obligations re: work, family, lectures etc…I find myself a bit anxious instead of being more relaxed …

Sarah J. Sloat, “In the clouds this evening (II)”
–The flowers included in Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (1913).

It’s April, National Poetry Month, and we celebrate with one of Sarah J. Sloat’s wonderful visual poem collages, here all …

I have recently been introduced to the Mormon (Latter-Day-Saints) website, “Family Search” which is a collection of data about a whole world of family trees. It’s free. It’s addictive if you know a little bit about your grandparents’ names and …

Sergio Díaz de Rojas: What Really Matters

by Dan Ursini ©2023

There is no question that Muerte en una tarde de verano, which roughly translates as “Death on a summer afternoon,” is thoroughly provocative. Yet, it is subtle and …

It’s always wonderful to share good news from and about our contributors. And in March, Women’s History Month, we’re extra happy share some good news from our women poets.

Lauren Camp reported (on Facebook!) that her book Took House sold …

Muse

Textile Collage. Hand-dyed silk organza, hand stitched. 48″ X48″

Wintering

Machine stitching on linen, screen printed and painted with textile inks. 40″ X 40″

Paper Float

Mixed Media. Arches paper, line transfer drawings, vintage papers, machine stitched. …

Art by Penelope Dullaghan

Keepsies

The brick school was an edifice, a word I liked, had looked up in Webster’s—ten wide steps to double doors in front. I had to use the Girls’ Entrance every morning, but at recess, …

Mathematics for Ladies
Poems on Women in Science
by Jessy Randall
Goldsmiths Press, 2022

Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, Poetry Editor, Escape Into Life

While I first read and responded to this book last August, in a Sealey-Challenge response in my …

This is Not a Book about Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something—Anything—Like Your Life Depends on It

by Tabitha Carvan

Putnam, 2022

reviewed by Seana Graham

This offbeat book might initially seem to be for a niche audience, …

March, 2023

David Houle recently wrote an article about the market for electric vehicles (EV) in the U.S.  He dug up some numbers from international sales, which were interesting. China leads the way.

So, here’s what he left out. EV’s …

Art by Simone Lourenco

Searching for the One

Searching for the one looking for me
and for the one not looking at all.
The bright sun blinds my eyes. I often
find that an annoyance. Who is tired
of searching …

In spite of his advanced age, Cormac McCarthy is still at the top of his game in his new novel, Stella Maris, where there is a dialogue between the protagonist, Alicia, and her psychiatrist in a mental institution about language, …

Alberto Giurioli’s Life
By Dan Ursini
©2023

Life, a debut album of instrumentals by composer/pianist Alberto Giurioli, tells the stories of the private anxiety, tenacity, and hope within those who take a headlong plunge in pursuit of their dreams. Giurioli’s …

Studia 4-22, pen & ink on paper,  24 x 18in, 2022

Studia 5-5, pen & ink, acrylic on paper,  14 x 11 in, 2022

Not a Boxer, pen & ink on paper, 11×8.5in, 2020

Dress Shirt No.1, pen & ink, …

I’ve noticed the outrage about Missouri’s new dress code for women in the legislature. Specifically, women have to cover their arms. A woman (Republican) presented the rule, and it was passed by the Republican majority. In January of 2023.

The …

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh

It has been awhile, over six weeks since my last post. I am caught between two forces: One, a sense of duty and commitment to keep writing regularly in EIL, as I have done over the …

Kurma: Stellar Enigma

By Dan Ursini

©2023

A happy enigma of longstanding friendships is how some can outlast great distances in time and place because “when we talk or get together, it seems as if no time has passed.” …

Leopoldstadt

By Tom Stoppard

Directed by Patrick Marber

Longacre Theatre, Broadway

Reviewed December 29, 2022

By Scott Klavan

Ironically, the most admirable things about Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard’s latest play, a fictionalization of his family’s experiences and his own childhood …

Valentina Ciardelli: Zappa and Beyond

By Dan Ursini ©2022

Valentina Ciardelli’s deep connection with Frank Zappa’s music, and her capacity for understanding it, was auspiciously expressed the first time she heard his work. She was 11 and, as she explains, …

Agave Memory, digital photograph, 2022

Agave Blue Light, digital photograph, 2022

 Tenuous Connections, digital photograph, 2021

Agave Folds, digital photograph, 2022

Agave Connections, digital photograph, 2022

Agave Reflected, digital photograph, …

The Wall (Die Wand)

by Marlen Haushofer

Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, Berlin 1968

translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside, 1990

New Directions, 2022

reviewed by Seana Graham

The title of this book may be more familiar to you …

Art by Jonathan Koch

Giving thanks to our writers this Thanksgiving holiday, EIL is pleased to announce its Pushcart Prize nominees in 2022:

“One day he decided he wanted to live”
by Richard Jones, published January 6, 2022

“Dispatch from …

Art by Robbie Porter

All through our lives we learn by processing information as well as experiences. These can be facts and knowledge, skills, and methods in a variety of aspects, personal relations as well as professional and public ones. …

Where Are the Snows

by Kathleen Rooney

The University Press of SHSU, 2022

texasreviewpress.org

Winner of the X. J. Kennedy Prize, selected by Kazim Ali

reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor

First off, I love the title of this …

The Anchored World: Flash Fairy Tales and Folklore

by Jasmine Sawers

Rose Metal Press, 2022

reviewed by Seana Graham

In their author’s note at the end of this slim book, Jasmine Sawers explains how they came to write the …

Wild Waters in Wild Places, mixed media, 4’x 8′, 2022

This Place We Share, mixed media, 6′ x 10′, 2022

Lead Me to the Light, mixed media, 36 x 36, 2021

Homemaking, mixed media, 24 x 24, …

Art by Marcin Owczarek

Two by Jessy Randall

Conversation with the Cat

me to cat: boop boop boop beep boop boop-bee-boop-boop

cat to me:

me to cat: petty petty pet pet for the poody poody poody

cat to me:

me …

Grateful by Fred Lisaius

Congratulations to our EIL poetry nominees for the annual Best of the Net anthology, and a big thank you to Sundress Publications for the Best of the Net project! 

Bethany Reid for “Leaf, Bract, …

Lauren Tilden, Jairus’s Daughter, oil on panel, 36″ x 48″

Janet McKenzie, Holy Mother of the East, oil on canvas, 30″ x 30″

Marcin Owczarek, One Minute to Midnight, mixed media photography on aluminum, 26″ x 39″…

We celebrate the arrival of autumn with visual poems by Sarah J. Sloat, including In Autumn, above.

Sleepless Night #31

De Moor, Margriet. Sleepless Night. New Vessel Press, 2019.

That indispensable dame

Roughead, William. Classic Crimes. NYRB …

For the last year I have been working on archiving and digitizing my family’s history, mostly pictures, documents, and recordings. It is a huge undertaking and a work in progress, but it has allowed me to peek into the past, …

We are delighted to introduce our new Artist Watch editor, Rowene Weems, with a bit of her own photography! And we thank Maureen Doallas, our past Artist Watch editor, for all her fine work here at EIL, and the grand …

Art by Alexis Rockman

New York 2001: A Photographic Exhibit       

Months later, in Chicago, we sit on folding chairs, like in someone’s rec room, in front of a ten-inch black and white video monitor. Bits of almost silent videotape, spliced …

Art by Ralph Goings

Karen Weyant

A Nurse’s Aide Walks Home at Midnight

Tonight, it’s Snoopy scrubs, a loose braid,
and a small bruise on her cheek,
where old Mr. Richards, lost in a smog
of dementia, lashed out, thinking …

Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance

by Jessamyn Stanley

Workman, 2021

reviewed by Seana Graham

Yoga instructor and Instagram success story Jessamyn Stanley starts off this book with a brief tale. A freelance copy-editor (hoping to be hired by her) …

Art by Kareem Rizk

In mid-July, just before I traveled by car to the western part of New York State, I decided to take on a challenge. The price of gas was up significantly (recently it’s come down), and my …

Sister Tongue by Farnaz Fatemi

 Kent State University Press, 2022

Winner of the 2021 Tom and Stan Wick Poetry Prize

reviewed by Bethany Reid

In Sister Tongue, Farnaz Fatemi weaves the events of her life together to make a …

August 17, 2022

Team Reality, Continued

So, I’m still thinking about that Team name for people who believe in reality. I’m landing on the name “Team Reality.” It’s simple, easy to remember, and has a nice ring to it. I …

Arianna and Whimsy, oil on canvas, 20″ x 16″, 2022

Cosimo, oil on canvas, 60″ x 48″, 2021

Cody, oil on canvas, 20″ x 16″, 2020

Vicci, oil on canvas, 24″ x 30″, 2022

Salma, …

Life in the Box: How Do People Come to Believe the Opposite of Truth? 

August 11, 2022

One question has been bothering me a lot in recent years: how can so many people believe the opposite of truth? How could …

Artist Daniel Edlen was featured here at Escape Into Life in 2012. He contacted us recently about his new work, and we are happy to update you all! Check out his website, Vinyl Art, as well!

Daniel Edlen at …

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 …

Aug 03, 2022 : I was going to write a summary and critique of the televised January 6^th Committee hearings. Then, I started seeing some very good synopses from news organizations like National Public Radio and others. See my …

Art by Elke Vogelsang

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

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…

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 …

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 …

Memory 4, by Patrick Seruwu

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. …

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 …

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 …

Art by Ben Tolman

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 …

Art by Tifenn Python

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Yoko Tanaka

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 …

Wound, by Dan Reisner

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 …

Art by Ben Tolman

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 …

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], …

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 …

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, …

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, …

Art by Barbara Nessim

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… 

Jessy Randall

One Mother Drives Three …

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 …

Art by Valerie Patterson

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 …

Art by Tim Flach

It’s April, National Poetry Month, and we celebrate again with poems on poetry itself…! Happy reading.

Andrea Potos

When Beginning the Poem

may there be a listening
rather than a making

curiosity over expectation,

lightness and …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Linda Plaisted

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 …

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, …

Art by Gabriel Moreno

Richard Jones

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Mark Wagner

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Bruce New

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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″, …

Trouble in Mind

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, 42^nd Street in the middle of Times Square, one …

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 …

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 …

Art by Maremi Andreozzi

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

A Cluster of Noisy Planets

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 …

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 …

Crown, by Dan Reisner

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 …

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, …

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 …

Art by Salma Arastu, My God is Near and He Listens

Greg Grummer

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 …

Art by Guy Billout

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 …

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), …

Art by Peter Clark

Greg Grummer 

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 …

Hamnet: a Novel of the Plague

by Maggie O’Farrell

Tinder Press, 2020, Knopf, 2021

reviewed by Seana Graham

Despite the giant shadow that Shakespeare casts across our cultural and psychological landscape, there are significant gaps in our knowledge of …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Gail Nadeau

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 …

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.…

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…

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 …

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

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, …

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 …

Art by James Aldridge

Jennifer Finstrom

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Michelle Morin

Donna Vorreyer

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 …

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 …

Art by Dean Monogenis

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…

Somebody Who Knows Somebody

by Charles Rafferty

Gold Wake, 2021

reviewed by Seana Graham

Charles Rafferty is no stranger to us here at Escape Into Life. We’ve not only reviewed an earlier collection of his stories but featured a …

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 …

Art by Tallmadge Doyle

Greg Grummer

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 …

Art by Deborah Van Auten

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 …

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…

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 …

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 …

Art by Anna Emilia Laitenen

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 …

Art by Seonna Hong

What Happened Was: my mother was pregnant with me

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 …

Emma Kidd’s Monsters

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 …

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″, …

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 …

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…

Folded paper by Eric Gjerde

Maria Garcia Teutsch 

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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)…

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Mike Worrall

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 …

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 …

Art by Elise Ritter

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 …

(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 …

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 …

Art by Julie Blackmon

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Mike Worrall

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by Duy Huynh 

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 …

Art by Heather Benning

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 …

“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

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 …

Art by Helen Sear

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Art by David Vogin

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 …

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 …

Art by eX de Medici

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 …

Art by Josh Keyes

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 …

Art by Jacek Yerka

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 …

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″ …

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 …

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 …

Art by Lars Henkel

Two by Brian Rihlmann

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 …

Julie Mehretu

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 …

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 …

Scott Poole, For George Floyd, June 2020

Scott Poole

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 …

Photography by David Burdeny

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 …

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 …

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 …

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…

Art by Joel Rea

Karen Craigo

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, …

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 …

Art by Frédéric Bourret

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–…

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 …

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 …

Having looked into questions about why and how to wear a mask and what kind of mask to make in Part One, now I turn to environmental studies to better my odds of not getting Covid-19. 

How much Covid …

“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.”

Vox article …

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 …

ATMA

Over my last 43 years of practicing orthopedics I have treated patients in a variety of ways, such as medications, splinting, and surgery. However, advice and recommendations regarding their health and well being such as weight control, activity level, …

Soul Mate, photography, acrylic, and liquid acrylic, 16″ x 20″, 2019

Starry Night, photography, acrylic, and liquid acrylic, 16″ x 20″, 2019

Broken System, photography, acrylic, and liquid acrylic, 16″ x 20″, 2019

Friendship, photography, acrylic, …

Art by Mike Worrall

Jim Moore

Little Sainthood

On one of my good days
you could tell I lived happily here, inside
the all of it.
You could tell all was stilled,
calm as the warm hand
of my father …