"no detail, no weed or stone or cat or old woman was unimportant to him"

2 September 2023: A random tidbit from one of my "Year's Work" articles--Elizabeth Bishop talking about John Dewey: "[H]e had almost the best manners I have ever encountered, always had time, took an interest in everything,—no detail, no weed or stone or cat or old woman was unimportant to him” (qtd. in Potts 808). Apparently they were neighbors when Dewey lived in Key West.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Dewey, connected in part to using his philosophy for part of my Masters Thesis. To think of him this way makes that spot even softer.

Pott's piece is pretty cool overall--a really neat reading of Bishop's poetry through the lens of her admiration for Buster Keaton.

Work Cited

Potts, George. “The Stoic Comedy of Elizabeth Bishop and Buster Keaton.” ELH vol. 89, no. 3, 2022, pp. 807–32.

Five quick lit links...

I've been meaning to link to these for awhile now, so here you go:

1) The proposed bailout for American poetry. Pretty darn funny.

2) A profile of one of my former colleagues from UNCG. Dan and I were in ENG 681 together back when I was a new teacher and he was a guy with PhD who came back to school for an MFA. How's that for devotion to your calling? He's an amazing poet and a great guy so give the interview a read, okay?

3) Was Milan Kundera a spy?

4) Just how panicked were people after the War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938?

5) Have you heard about Dewey the cat yet? By the way, Dewey is a possible name for my next cat--but in honor of John Dewey, not Melvil.