Works in Progress

Planets on the Table:
Nine Poems about Poets and Poetry

Each chapter explores a classic modern poem about poets or poetry, starting with “Adam’s Curse” by W.B. Yeats and closing with “North Haven” by Elizabeth Bishop. Biographical details and close readings bring the poems to life, and, by focusing on the poets’ relationships with each another, the book becomes almost novelistic in its development of characters and themes. A version of the chapter on Ezra Pound appeared in The Montréal Review.

Luminous Words

Linked essays exploring ten core values, including goodness, truth, beauty, freedom, and equality. Drawing on diverse sources – from the Talmud to Parliament Funkadelic, from Ludwig Wittgenstein to Cary Grant – the book weaves an account of how to live that is pluralistic, open-ended, and, although non-religious, imbued with a sense of wonder. Versions of the chapters on joy, truth, and wonder have appeared in the Montréal Review.

Singing School

A bittersweet, comedic novel about the loves and losses of an eclectic group of law students in 1980s Los Angeles. You can read the first chapter here.