Performing Darkness vs. Living Inside It

Performing Darkness vs. Living Inside It

by | Jun 27, 2026 | Journal

Venice, October 1817Byron arrived in this city last year and has been consuming it at the rate of a man who suspects he has a limited amount of time. We were introduced at a salon on the Giudecca three weeks ago. He is the most exhausting person I have met in fifty...
The Journals Speak Almost Entirely in Metaphor

The Journals Speak Almost Entirely in Metaphor

by | Jun 24, 2026 | Journal

Himalayas, March 1508The pass above Nako is at four thousand meters and the air is thin enough that thinking requires effort. I have been in these mountains for three years. The monasteries receive me without excessive questions. The monks here are accustomed to the...
What the Grief Actually Is

What the Grief Actually Is

by | Jun 23, 2026 | Journal

Present Day, June 23, 2026I Am Crying requires some explanation because grief is a word that gets used loosely and what I mean by it is specific.Ordinary grief has a trajectory. It is sharpest at the moment of loss and then, for most people, it softens over time into...
What He Sees When He Looks at His Own Face

What He Sees When He Looks at His Own Face

by | Jun 3, 2026 | Journal

Amsterdam, March 22, 1638Rembrandt van Rijn is thirty-two years old and already painting himself with the attention most men reserve for the face of God. I have been to the workshop twice this week, introduced as a scholar and collector from the south, and each time I...