You want a day as boring as a shrub,
a high, departing plane the only sound.
A Tuesday or a Thursday would be best.
Like shuffled paper or a ticket stub,
the day should be unstuck from what’s around
it, loose and small, a button in a chest.
No pomp for one who’s walked this way since birth.
It must be in the ordinary ground,
in simple clay and rock spill left undressed,
in ground the raw-boned face of winter earth,
yet blessed.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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