The Peacock
Many thanks to Ande Cook for my new peacock with Flannery O’Connor. Ande’s making art and growing organic in beautiful North Georgia.www.andecookstudio.com.
Author: Lance Levens
Lance Levens' short stories, poems and essays have appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Chimera, Raintown Review and others. Jubilate, a chapbook (Pudding House Press) was published in 2007. He has been three times for a Pushcart Prize, once in short fiction and twice in poetry. His novels, A Kaddish for Inhuman Steadman, (Smashwords) Tietam Cane (Fireship Press, 2014), and Mr. Hooks (Booklocker) are listed on Amazon
Into the woods my master went…
Early memories of verse: they stay with us, don’t they? Like these words of Sidney Lanier I learned in grammar school. Just a phrase or a line may lay the groundwork for a feeling for words and meter and verbal expression of any sort–for a lifetime. What’s a phrase or a line that has meant […]
Grendel
Rereading John Gardner’s Grendel, a deconstruction of Beowulf.Roots and stones and snakes of fire. And empathy for the beleaguered, single-parented monster. But should this be taught in the schools? The philosophical depth and complexity is a tough as the networks of roots the monster has to penetrate out of his undersea world into the world […]
Theater of War
In his book, The Theater of War, Brian Doerries show how the heroes of Greek tragedy experienced PTSD. Staging the ancient plays on military bases, he brings Ajax and Prometheus to life to give some measure of comfort to suffering vets.
The Man of Sorrows
The season for the Man of Sorrows is upon us. Thomas Merton pointed out in his journal that we need to turn to the Cross again and again to keep our flighty and mendacious hearts in check. Considered in that light, is the Man of Sorrows ever out of season?
Pitchers and Catchers
Thanks to Kristy Hunter of the Knight Agency and Sally Apokedak of Leslie Stobbes Agency for hearing my pitch for my new novel, Saving Private Mom. Got my fingers crossed now as I send them pages.
Into the Atlanta Fray
Is it possible to parachute into Atlanta? The prospect of navigating I-75 all the way to the junction of I 285–the conference location–fills me with Kirkegaardian angst.
Atlanta Writing Workshop 2/20/16
Off the Atlanta this weekend to a writer’s/agents workshops. Will be pitching my novel Saving Private Mom. Basically, I memorize my query letter, get five minutes to spout it back to an agent and then try to smile. Heaven help the poor agents who will hear some fifty of these “pitches” during the course of […]
Mr. Hooks, Ocmulgee Oracle
My newest opus nauseous, Mr. Hooks, is set along the Ocmulgee River and concerns the doings of a talking catfish. Wait! Before you hang up–he talks to a lawyer who needs talking to. And only in dreams, so don’t think I’m writing fantasy here. The book also has trash talking crows, if you’re an NBA fan.
Busy Monsters, William Giraldi
Writers get bored with themselves. Nor is this a bad thing. William Giraldi, in Busy Monsters is so bored with himself that he makes every sentence a waker-upper, a roller coaster, a slap-you-about-a bit, e.g.: Gilliam and I were about to be married, and her ex-beau of four years, Marvin Gluck–Virginia state trooper, boots and […]
At The Peacock's Perch 