Warning, contains sweeping generalizations and graphic art. Mary Patterson (1828) J. Oliphant Recently, I came across the above image. A pencil sketch by John Oliphant of a young woman named Mary Patterson. The subject is nude, supine, and one of a long line of female artistic subjects laid in a posture that […]
And on the seventh week of isolation, I started wearing jewelry again. A watch, a necklace, two rings. The watch is a sister to the one my dad gave me when I started getting serious about running back in high school. The silver cross necklace was a birthday present from my grandmother the summer I […]
When I was six months old, my mom made a friend. And when I say made, I mean made. His name is Herman, he lives in a Pyrex bowl in one of her cabinets, eating flour every few days, and turning out consistent loaves of the best Amish friendship bread in the world every time […]
Fitzgerald Park, Cork, approx. 1:30pm March 18, 2020 In Defoe’s version of this story, the priests abandon their pulpits and congregations, fleeing to the isolation of country homes. In Shelley’s version, American refugees invade Ireland, and then Scotland, murdering and looting their way south to the gates of London, before the son of the last […]
Contains spoilers for Million Dollar Baby (2005), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), and Charlie’s Angels (2019) I love movie trailers. That two-minute hit of emotion, the music, the character-establishing jokes and ‘stinger’ as they go out. It’s a high that I have spent too many hours combing YouTube for. A well-made trailer is the film distilled. […]
The start of a year. The end of a decade. It seems I’m a little late marking the occasion, other writers and creators have done far more interesting and poignant things to show the change from 2019 to 2020. Among my favorites are Stephanie Burt’s piece on poetry for the new year in the Washington […]
Pieces of one of the costumes I will be modeling, should modeling happen. Photo credit to the loveliest Silver. A friend recently asked me to pose for some pictures. The friend is an artist, the pictures will be modeling the elaborate costumes that she builds. Costumes inspired by video games and comics, making […]
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! -Hamlet, II.ii Almost two decades ago, my parents took […]
Bantry Bay as seen from Bantry House The only genre is quality. -Sarah Davis Goff Bantry Bookshop, 18.7.19 In April 2016 I finished my classroom coursework for a Masters in Creative Writing from University College Cork and began on my first summer in Ireland. Not my first abroad, but that is a story for another […]
Edinburgh, as seen from Arthur’s Seat. June, 2019 There are certain phrases authors use when we’re writing the 100-word biographies that every publisher, regardless of field, seems to ask for. “Widely published” is shorthand, a sign that you’re going to list about three titles that you’ve appeared in, but don’t worry there’s more […]
