A silvery stag’s antlers spindle into leaves, and I wonder what makes the patterns in them … or in lightening. I’d driven south through a thunderstorm to look for sculpture in Edith Wharton’s gardens.
Read articleQuesting for poets on spring nights — #Berkshireweekend
Why is April called poetry month? Why now, in a precarious early spring? Ross Gay and Robert Hass remind me that poetry is physical. Immediate. Close as skin or rain on birchbark.
Read articleRambling with poets in the hills
In all my years in the Berkshires, I’ve talked with poets in all kinds of times and places — on spring nights after readings, on quiet days in writing residencies, in bars and meadows and coffee shops … In honor of National Poetry Month, here are some who move me strongly.
Read articleWriters at the Mount move between worlds
Cat Wei invokes the energy of a summer night on a raw almost-spring day, as she and Parvati Ramchandani and Mario Giannone meet in Edith Wharton’s innermost rooms.
Read articleNora Krug stands against hate — and for humanity
Growing up in Germany, Nora Krug felt the weight of the past. Her teachers led her into detailed research on political figures and national movements, she says, but she had never talked with her own grandparents about their experiences in World War II …
Read articleQ-Mob explores Berkshire arts with a queer lens
A new community of friends is looking for stories like these and encouraging the telling. Tom Truss and Bart Church have helped to found a new affinity group in Great Barrington, Queer Men of the Berkshires. And among their friendly activities, a group is forming to explore the arts.
Read articleWomen reflect across 10 decades in the 10×10 Festival — #throwback
As part of the 2013 10x10 Festival, women across 10 decades think about what gets them moving — and they offer answers in words, performance and art.
Read articleLegends walk when the snow flies — #berkshireweekend
Medusa came into a conversation at Wild Soul River. Walking out of the snow at dusk, I found a group of friends and neighbors talking about stories. …
Read articleShirley Jackson brings horror stories home
‘No one in my family is surprised to find me putting the waffle iron away on a different shelf because in my story it has quarreled with the toaster, and if I left them together they might come to blows …’
Read articleJane Austen meets the spirit of Christmas yet to come
Two years past the end of ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ the Bennet family are gathering for the holidays, and Mary, the awkward, bookish middle sister, is about to take center stage for the first time in her life.
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