Summer Reading: Earth

Digging Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills…

Ashes and Blossoms Today, again, On the string spun from grief and pain, I threaded blossoms; drawn from your memory. And I plucked, From the desert of abandoned love, Buds which bloomed; when were together. Then, I placed on your doorsteps, Offering to the days of your memory. Laid, Side by side, in the vase…

WELCOME TO NATIONAL POETRY MONTH AT GWU ENGLISH! The first National Poetry Month was in April 1996 and was started by The Academy of American Poets as a month-long celebration of poems.  In April 1996, I was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago when my poetry professor, Elizabeth Alexander, tasked her students with creating…

On a sunny and beautiful evening on Wednesday, April 5th, faculty, friends, and students gathered at the F Street House for a beautiful reception, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Jenny McKean Moore fund, hosted by GW President Steven Knapp and his wife, Diane. The event drew many whose lives’ have been touched by the…

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size    But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips,    The stride of my step,    The curl of my lips.    I’m…

What does Cuba mean to you? To be entirely candid with you, my only experience with Cuba is its delicious cuisine. However, Cuba has always fascinated me with its rich cultural and political history. Last night’s reading with author and journalist, Mayra Montero only solidified that interest. As H.G. Carrillo emphasized in his warm introduction…