And here is Arrowsmith Press remarkable fall list, 3 writers that have always thrilled me, for wit, style, and precision.

Oh, the kindness of some people!

Satan exalted sat, by merit raised To that bad eminence; and, from despair Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught, His proud imaginations thus displayed:— -Paradise Lost (expert punctuation)

‘Jaan-e-Mumbai’: The slim Persian book that came to be the first urban biography of the city The book from 1817 remains a prototype for the many biographies of the city that continue to be written 200 years on, writes Murali Ranganathan scroll.in/article/107151… via Scroll.in

“I took him by the throat and flung him violently to the ground!” The Dean (a clergyman) in Trollope’s Is he Popenjoy?

There are five men in my house, four arguing over how to cook a steak and the fifth playing banjo. It is very noisy here.

I enjoyed every moment of this--Roth on Bellow and his "inspired carelessness." This seems to have been the last on-camera interview that Roth ever did, and his pleasure in recollecting his friend (and hero) touches me deeply: youtube.com/watch?v=7CY-Zf…

" yxta murray is a writer of polymathic interests." True! Excited about this review of her deep-diving and nuanced nonfiction book on artivisim. bit.ly/4dM6EDf

And when your child leaves after two fast days home, though he is on an adventure, which you track with every nerve and digital resource, it aches. Back to my books.

Beyond excited that my son has landed in a tiny town in the Arctic Circle, hours north of Fairbanks.

Necessary reading and hopeful

Back to school from here

Commonweal has spoken (in a brief, accurate, seemingly satisfied kind of way)! I'm glad the reviewer dwelled on the detail of the dual biographers at RWE's deathbed--strange, funny, weirdly touching.

Students Cornell University don't have enough food to eat because the administration is refusing to negotiate with UAW which gave them plenty of time. Give the workers what they deserve! It's "chaos" everywhere on campus, I was told.

Lovely evening

Hi! Here is a list of 30+ literary contests that are either currently open for submissions or opening in September! Almost all are open internationally. All are fee-free. Prizes range from $100 to $1000 and even a creative Writing MA Scholarship. Good luck! #contestsubmissions

Lovely surprise! Thank you dear jane zwart

Alexis David on reading Tiny Extravaganzas: "strange things started to happen to me...I began to notice the sound of insects in my backyard + the gentle chiming of my 6mo daughter grasping a hanging chime. Mehta’s poems started to teach me to listen."

Alexis heard me recite my poem about my cellist friend, on the The New Yorker podcast. "Mehta writes, 'oh, wouldn’t it be grand to be a whole-note / dragged across the bridge of your singular, sound-expanding / double-bow, to be orchestral, to be drunk, to drink the velvet sun.'

"There is a longing here–also present in some of Mehta’s poems–a longing for a sensory experience of actually being music, of being the sound that is played across her companion’s cello. This exp would be similar to being drunk, to drinking the sun." bit.ly/3XsDjZj