books + zines

A Poet Defines a ‘Blessing’ (John O’Donohue)

For a long time, I was hard-pressed to find a good definition of “blessing” that encompassed its quality of kindness, possibiity and transformative power without referencing formal religion. I found it in ‘To Bless the Space Between Us’ by poet John O’Donohue, and in one of his exquisite blessings.

Shared Harmonics in Nature and Art Makes Us See in a New Way

Do you ever wonder why we humans tend to feel good in nature? Annie Murphy Paul’s scholarly The Extended Mind: the Power of Thinking Outside the Brain gives the simple, obvious gist. It’s message is surprisingly echoed in art…

A Couple of Radical Ideas About Living (Niall Williams & Henry Miller)

In This is Happiness, a beauty of a novel by Niall Williams, I found a nugget of gold that has been subtly transforming my view. It reminded me of Henry Miller’s radical philosophy of living.

Derek Jarman’s Gardens: ” a Testament, Blazing, Blatant, to Possibility”.

After being diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, filmmaker Derek Jarman bought an austere tar-painted fisherman’s cottage in sight of a nuclear power station in the bleak shingle landscape on the southeast coast of England. It would prove to be an act of creative vision as unique as those Jarman realized in his films.

The Secret Essential Riches of Doing Nothing (Jenny Odell, Bibi Baskin, Ch’eng Hao)

When uber-journalist Bibi Baskin was asked what she planned to be doing when she retired she replied, “Nothing.” It is a pursuit she has longed for. Still it is not always easy to do given the fierce demands of a society that values productivity above most else.

Ways to Honor The Mother Trees (Susan Simard, W.S. Merwin)

We have marveled at Susan Simard since we realized she was the model for the fearless, hermetic tree botanist in Richard Price’s wondrous tree-centric novel The Overstory. Her new book Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Ancient Wisdom of the Forest about the intricate underground communication network trees create and depend upon got us thinking about the perfect gift, for Mother’s day or otherwise.

Listen to a Breathtaking Treatise on Stars (Mei-mei Berssenbrugge + Vija Celmins)

One morning, I found myself listening to poet Mei-mei Berssenbrugge reading Wonder from her book A Treatise on Stars. I was transfixed, calmed, transported by her voice and the story it told. It proved a surprising lesson in seeing stars, and the connection between wonder and not knowing.

Mandy Patinkin’s Prayer While Feeding the Dog + Blessings from John O’Donahue and Bob Dylan

From his retreat at his upstate cabin, legendary actor Mandy Patinkin sings in Hebrew as gets his dog Becky’s food for her. We were surprised to discover that what he is singing is a prayer. And that got us thinking about blessings to accompany simple tasks of daily life.

The Ancient Formula for Gratitude

Opening at random Richard Powers’ remarkable novel The Overstory, we found the ancient formula for gratitude.

New Yorker’s Coronavirus Cartoons are Funny, Wise and Curiously Comforting

These New Yorker cartoons describe the peculiar brand of anxiety that has become our weird shared experience. They give a much-needed sense of connectedness, AND levity…

Uplift and Surprise Sparked by a Jane Hirshfield Poem

We’re loving Jane Hirschfeld’s wonderful poem I Wanted to Be Surprised. It is the lens through which we’ve been looking to discover uplifting…surprises…

“I am Art”, A Rhapsodic Proclamation about Art and Making

In a 2012 talk at AIGA, Zach Lieberman, cofounder of the School for Poetic Computation, read the short, powerful ‘I Am Art’ out loud. It is one of the most astonishing and rhapsodic proclamations of art-making we’ve seen and totally nails the exhilaration art brings.

Robert Macfarlane on Trees and Long Love

Over our transom came this moving piece from Underland: a Deep Time Journey by British naturalist Robert Macfarlane. We’ve written before about his remarkable ability to connect us to nature, landscape, heart…

Donald Judd Spaces: A Deep Dive Into Judd’s Inspired Designs for Living

We are thrilled by the publication of Donald Judd Spaces, a rare visual survey of the legendary artist’s living and working spaces. It contains a trove of new and archival photographs alongside five essays by the artist which afford a close look and greater understanding of his integrative thinking and aesthetic, and very employable ideas.