Jack didn’t know where Billy was leading him, but had promised not to ask questions. They were deep in the woods now, off the hard road north of town. The falling snow covered the ground. “It’s only a little farther,” Billy said. When he finally stopped, Billy knelt beside a lump in the snow and …
On the Occasion of Poetry
I’ve done a tremendous amount of writing in the past four months, much more than in the previous few years combined. I often go through spurts, starts and stops, devoting time to writing lyrics for a song or turning my attention to a poem or two. Sometimes I’ll give an assignment to my students, and …
The Things We Carry
I had just enrolled in the graduate program at The Ohio State University when I read “How to Tell a True War Story” for the first time. The author, Tim O’Brien, was unknown to me, but I found the story, included in the book I’d be using to teach freshman composition, both fascinating and challenging. …