Reading and Writing from Life

Tuesday, January 19, 2016



I will be teaching this six-week writing course at Nido in Durham, NC on Saturday afternoons, February 6th through March 12th.  Join us!

No Lack of Opportunities

Friday, January 15, 2016

by Joanna Penn Cooper and Todd Colby

The way I know reality is conditional is by looking 
out the window at the mobile homes parked
under the palm trees.  What would it mean to really
be mobile?  To really have a home?  These things
are up on blocks.  That's the condition of being
anonymous amid the revelations of doom. 
It's chilly but comfortable, the way I love you 
as much as anybody loves another human being, 
if one can call a human such a thing as a being. 

New York, New York

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

(by Todd Colby and Joanna Penn Cooper)

None of us gets you.
Like a message saying,
Stop having regrets-- you'll regret it, 
I can't believe how much everything hurts.
You aren't really broken.
But it's ok if you are.
There are buckets and bandages and medications
we can share.  People are funny in New York.
You were one, which almost makes it worth it
but not quite.  You are still one.
There isn't a blurb or heartfelt inscription
in the world that can change that thing
in your ear. 

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