Blog Posts
What was common could also be a flower
Dear Gwendolyn, Maud Martha (1953) centres on a working-class black girl coming of age in pre-WWII Chicago. When the story opens, the eponymous protagonist is about seven yeas… Read more “What was common could also be a flower”
The time cracks into furious flower
Three poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, from the collection The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks, ed. Elizabeth Alexander (2005), and one from the collection To Disembark (1981). “the mother Abortions… Read more “The time cracks into furious flower”
Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks (Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks, June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American writer. She was born in Topeka, Kansas, but her family moved to Chicago when… Read more “Gwendolyn Brooks”
Bookshelf
Commonplace book
“It is best for us to continue in the belief that Eve actually ate an apple, and immediately ruined Adam in consequence! I like this belief, too, it speaks so well for the progressive power of women.” – 26 July 1857, ‘Early journalism’, in The Morgesons and Other Writings
The sadness of others one should leave alone. It is a small garden, a fragile delicate Arcadia, one should not disturb it. – I Am the Brother of XX
Menagerie of Authors
Gwendolyn Brooks - Gwendolyn Brooks (Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks, June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American writer. She was born in Topeka, Kansas, but her family moved to Chicago when… Read more "Gwendolyn Brooks"
Jessie Redmon Fauset - Jessie Redmon Fauset (born Jessie Redmona Fauset, married name Jessie Redmon Harris. April 27, 1882 – April 30, 1961) was an African-American writer. Fauset was the seventh child of… Read more "Jessie Redmon Fauset "
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (September 24, 1825 – February 22, 1911) was an African-American writer. Born to free black parents in Baltimore, Maryland, Harper was orphaned when… Read more "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper"
Harriet E. Wilson - Harriet E. Wilson (born Harriet E. Adams, March 15, 1825 – June 28, 1900) was an African-American writer. Born free in New Hampshire, Harriet was the daughter of… Read more "Harriet E. Wilson"
Maria Lazar - Maria Lazar (née Maria Franziska Lazar. After marriage, Maria Franziska Strindberg. Pseudonym: Esther Grenen. November 22, 1895 – March 30, 1948) was an Austrian-Jewish writer. Born in… Read more "Maria Lazar"
About
About this [blank] garden
“I am younger each year at the first snow.”
– Anne Sexton, in a letter to W. D. Snodgrass, in 1958.
A Self-portrait in Letters, (2004)
This is my blank space. A white page, as good as a garden covered in snow, not yet cultivated, but with some strong Spring hidden within; something simple, clean, yet to be stained; a seed with some flower all curled up inside, first waiting, then slowly unraveling.
