This is a post about the nature of poetry and language—particularly the sensory immediacy of poetic language, which can bridge the gap between symbolic structures and experience.  ~ Each day, I practice Spanish. I translate words, phrases, and sentences from Spanish to English, and vice versa. I match Spanish words with their rough English equivalents, compiling mental flashcards. This is effective for increasing vocabulary but clumsy for verbal communication in the real worl

The novel The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead comments on ways in which we tell stories and prompts the reader to question: How do we...