She texts atop Mount Washington
then switches to her headphones
when she descends the gulches of
the presidential deadzones.
Her solar-powered iPod Touch
has seasons five through nine
of Gossip Girl in case she’s forced
to spread her tent off-line.
On Valley Way she pauses for
A selfie and hits share.
She doesn’t mention where she is;
she isn’t really there.
—Stephen Scaer
In Praise of Translation
This essay was delivered as the 38th Annual Erasmus Lecture. The circumstances of my life have been…
Caravaggio and Us
Nicolas Poussin, the greatest French artist of the seventeenth century, once said that Caravaggio had come into…
Canticle of All Creatures
This poem was written by St. Francis of Assisi, and translated by Dana Gioia. Most high, all…