Tag Archives: In Memoriam

Trusting that Good Can Come from Ill

By Robin Bates | Published: October 8, 2009

Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus What have I learned about literature and pain this past week? First, that writers have taken up the topic, just as they take up every aspect of human existence. They imagine what it is like to feel pain and, through poetic images and fictional stories, convey that experience to readers. By entering […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Alan’s Cancer vs. an Exquisite Corpse

By Robin Bates | Published: August 20, 2009

Colleagues of my friend Alan Paskow held another one of our salons Monday night.  Alan is a former professor of philosophy at St. Mary’s College, now retired, who currently has cancer in his lungs.  We have been meeting once a month or so to show our support and to generally reaffirm how important community is.  Monday […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

Death and Language’s Limitations

By Robin Bates | Published: May 22, 2009

In spending the last two weeks discussing how poetry can come to our aid in a season of death, I have been exploring how poetry responds to its greatest test. Death and dying can trigger our deepest fears, generate panic, denial and anger, prompt us to question everything we believe in, and send on frantic […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed