The hotel is leaking and the little girl thinks it’s funny to throw her glass of milk onto the carpet. At the check-in desk, two men shake hands – one of them is on fire. The deal has been made.

burning like blind meteors
in empty nights where I kneel
sightless before my own stranger

Driving around. Monitoring the playground. Watching, for another example, essentially the same swimming lesson one has watched three times a week for the past two years.

As I just told George, my point in the short article “Novel Ideas” was that literature is not removed from those who reject the genre.  But I never meant to suggest that Hollywood truly loves books.  Hollywood loves books like the wife-beater loves his family: he might think he does, but ego and insecurity have [...]

As I just told George, my point in the short post “Novel Ideas” was that literature is not removed from those who reject the genre.  But I never meant to suggest that Hollywood truly loves books.  Hollywood loves books like the wife-beater loves his family: he might think he does, but ego and insecurity have [...]

At the beginning of many residencies at the Bennington Writing Seminars, the late Liam Rector would screen this clip from Glengarry GlenRoss, leaving at least some of the new students squinting and wondering exactly what he meant by its display.  It’s the “Always Be Closing” scene, with Alec Baldwin aggressively berating the sales staff to [...]

I’m obsessed with this one line from Aleksandar Hemon’s novel The Lazarus Project: “All fears are memories of other fears . . .”  I’m not quite through with the 294-page book yet, but I’m a good ways along.  This line was on page 68.  I need to get over it. All fears are memories of [...]

I’m obsessed with this one line from Aleksandar Hemon’s novel The Lazarus Project: “All fears are memories of other fears . . .”  I’m not quite through with the 294-page book yet, but I’m a good ways along.  This line was on page 68.  I need to get over it. All fears are memories of [...]

Happy Birthday 24SevenCities.  I have a grandiose — and slightly subversive — wish for you today. But first, a quick introduction. I’m Leigh Rastivo, and my blog will center around two topics, in equal measure: modern motherhood and writing and literature.  I’m thinking local book club, and some podcasting on literature.  There’s a lot in [...]