PinnedThe Men Who Wrote Erotic Poetry about GodRenaissance English poets prove that sexy Jesus isn’t just a modern phenomenon — Leave it to Camille Paglia, contrarian feminist and fearless culture critic, to point out homoerotic fantasies toward God. In “Love Poetry,” which first appeared in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics and later in a collection of Paglia’s essays titled Vamps & Tramps, she names two poems from the…God4 min readGod4 min read
PinnedWhat Am I Trying to Say Here?In a strident time, I’ve tended to forego polemics. Instead, I’ve taken to including glimpses of my opinions in pieces primarily about something else, more often than not an album review. …Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Pinned9 Approx. 5-Minute Reads on the ArtsThe war on birds, nuns on the edge, magic carpet rides and more — I’ve been writing a lot of short posts, because that’s all life will permit at the moment, but I prefer to write longer pieces. Below are a few of my more in-depth posts on topics I find endlessly fascinating: music, books, art, philosophy and religion. I hope you’ll give these…Books2 min readBooks2 min read
Published inMorning Musings Magazine·PinnedEre the EndAll who are born must face the Dragon — Young Helios traveled a straight line west. With his first step, he passed beyond the realm of the familiar, yet as he progressed, each town, each people, became more like the last. …Fiction3 min readFiction3 min read
PinnedHorror Fiction: 4 Short StoriesHappy Halloween and Season’s Readings! — One of my biggest pleasures on Medium has been publishing short fiction in the horror publication Keeping It Spooky. The publication has fiction, articles and poetry for fans who like anything that sends a shiver down the spine. My stories belong to a variety of subgenres, with reading times from…Halloween2 min readHalloween2 min read
2 days agoThe Last Time I Read the BibleThe last time I read the Bible as a daily practice, I bought myself an affordable, standard church-issue, faux black leather edition of the King James Version just for the occasion and dove straight into a read-through of The Book of Psalms. Psalm 1:1–3 immediately spoke to me: “1 Blessed…Religion2 min readReligion2 min read
6 days agoThe Shaker in MeGrowing up, I worked with my grandfather on carpentry projects. Often he would remind me as I worked — drawing lines, sawing wood, hammering nails — to take my time, not rush, do everything just right. My grandfather was a church-going man, but there was nothing religious in his instruction…God2 min readGod2 min read
Nov 22An Open Letter to Ridley ScottJoseph Franz von Lobkowitz was never Emperor of the French, King of Italy or Spain, Provisional Consul of the French Republic or even Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. He never insisted on a trade blockade isolating the territories under his administration from the rest of Europe, launched numerous…History2 min readHistory2 min read
Published inMorning Musings Magazine·Nov 20Princess of blossoms, flaming mountain fairA sonnet — Princess of blossoms, flaming mountain fair Adream of tempests bound to break anon Fresh crystals pale adorn her sacred hair From eyes fall petals mourning truelove gone I gaze upon her august silver slopes A ware of willow breathing autumn cold As morn gives rise to faint, unbidden hopes Yet tired I am and dread the barrow’s mold For death or glory ends the final stand In eastern climes as mine as heart’s first home Where hornèd bison wandered prairie land Yet further back in time my soul would roamPoetry1 min readPoetry1 min read
Nov 17Separating Popular Music from CapitalRadiohead’s Kid A (2000) was the first time I noticed the tension between anti-establishment music and its capitalist means. Railing against conformity, consumerism, globalism and other totalizing forces — ten thousand invisible hands at this point — only carries so much weight coming from artists who are multinational, multicorporate entities…Music1 min readMusic1 min read
