dVerse — Prosery — From Abraham’s Journal

Edward “Eddy” Baker Lincoln …city lilacs release their sweet, wild perfume then bow down, heavy with rain. –by Helen Dunmore, from ‘City Lilacs’, From Abraham’s Journal February,1850 Dreaming three-year-old Eddy’s cough wakes me. My feet can never find their slippers. Padding quickly to his room I notice again it is drafty, no matter how high…

Book Review — Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders

“His mind was freshly inclined toward sorrow; toward the fact that the world was full of sorrow; that everyone labored under some burden of sorrow; that all were suffering; that whatever way one took in this world, one must try to remember that all were suffering (none content; all wronged, neglected, overlooked, misunderstood), and therefore…

dVerse — Poetics — Ekphrastic senryu

twirling in freedom sick child dances in heaven parents weep at grave Right now I’m reading George Saunders’ 2017 novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo,” which revolves around Abraham’s son, Willie’s, death as a child and how Willie finds himself in a purgatory-type place called  Bardo.  Seeing this image immediately made me think of Willie Lincoln….