Author Archives: jillbpearlman

What Augurs, Biden?

Posted on January 24, 2021 by jillbpearlman

A smart observer once said about our new president: “If you ask me who the luckiest person I know, it’s Joe Biden.  If you ask me who the unluckiest person I know, it’s Joe Biden.”  As a lover of paradox, … Continue reading →

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Stuck in the Stalls of History

Posted on January 10, 2021 by jillbpearlman

In Roberto Bolaño’s Savage Detectives, his sprawling novel of poets, revolutionaries and Pinochet, I remember most vividly the scene of a poet trapped in a stall of the bathroom as riot police entered her university.   Where else would she … Continue reading →

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2020: Opera Extraordinaire

Posted on January 3, 2021 by jillbpearlman
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Solstice, burning bright

Posted on December 20, 2020 by jillbpearlman

Solstice, winter, covid: we are close to the dark.   Those winter days that swing between flat gray and blindingly bright gray work a subtle palette.  During insomniac nights — at 3am, at 4am — I am close to the … Continue reading →

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Playing with Woe

Posted on December 13, 2020 by jillbpearlman

The protestations — the kicking and screaming —where did we think horsehairs came fromhow do you get chicken soupif not from a chicken what did we really think of this reality thing at night, unguarded in our heart of heartsat the poker game, hurtling … Continue reading →

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thanksgiving in blue, quince and gray

Posted on November 26, 2020 by jillbpearlman

It’s raining, a dreary gray-drenched drizzly rain. But rain blurs, takes the detail from things. What is data in rain? What is insistent, goal-driven argument? What is rain plus holiday? A chance to lay down my arms. Rest in a … Continue reading →

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Release

Posted on November 15, 2020 by jillbpearlman

I wanted a cheap fix, a release, an anythingbut the present thing, a veering from catastrophe and know as the wind blowsthere is no quick fix but jeez, how little is granted, how stingy reality, how it seeps its goodness,  what … Continue reading →

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TO THE OTHER SIDE!

Posted on November 8, 2020 by jillbpearlman

Praise the stepping stones!  Simple, each notched and shaped with its own smooth surface. Laid for one purpose — to help us get to the other side.  To balance delicately over the raging chaos.  Monsters bark; still, praise the plank, … Continue reading →

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THEY

Posted on November 1, 2020 by jillbpearlman

THEY Kafka saw it, part tragedy, part comic. They pulled us off our axisput us in immobilis, the gnawing cellof isolation, of terror who is there, with a hand to catch — to touch us — Time slows down     stands still the top … Continue reading →

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October Blues (and other shades)

Posted on October 18, 2020 by jillbpearlman

October’s precision.  Everything under the sun is sharp, preening with the ethic of freshly waxed cars, buffed and shined.  It is as nails made brilliant, as hard bright vernis.  Brushed wire.  It is shadow or it is not.  It is … Continue reading →

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