Author & Professor
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Listening is an act of will that precedes hearing. Everyone can listen, even persons whose ability to hear sounds is compromised because of physiological make-up, accident, aging, or other life processes. Everyone can listen because listening is paying attention. The more attention we pay to paying attention the more skilled we …
As I climbed out of the swimming pool just before going into the sauna I glimpsed Jeremy entering the steam room. So I was surprised a few minutes later when he entered the sauna. This morning he wasn’t pensive. He greeted me almost immediately with, “Well, what have you been learning recently?” Caught off guard, …
Today I heard the crack of a wooden baseball bat striking a ball. It resounded within the sauna walls (there I was again) echoing from the year 1955 as Charles told me how he had acquired a baseball from the 1955 World Series, a baseball signed by 23 New York Yankees’ players and manager Casey …
I’ve often wondered why I hear poetry in people’s words. Recently I gave up considering why to concentrate upon the happening of listening, to consider what happens as I listen and poetry enters the listening space. My initial rumination is that when I listen to others speak I open myself to resonance of multifaceted vibration. …
If I’m lucky – and I try to be lucky – I’m in the sauna at the JCC twice a week for five delicious minutes after my mile-swim. Most times I’m alone in the sauna. One day this past week Jimmy (I learned his name later) shared the space. Have you been coming here long? …
