Blog Posts for Author

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WORDS

MaxReif — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:35:56 -0700

Author's Intro This is an intensely autobiographical, possibly even narcissistic piece. If anyone sticks with it and finds something universal in it, I'll be pleased. It was a pleasure to organize these threads of thinking and feeling about "the Good Life" that have been circulating in my being for nearly half a century. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WORDS Something’s a little strange:I ...

Becoming a Poet

MaxReif — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:13:07 -0700

BECOMING A POET 1.In college I never understood poetry. Certain distant acquaintances walked around in what appeared to be a kind of haze. People spoke of them, with a kind of awe, as poets. I didn't grasp their poetry, but I wanted to be spoken of that way, too! Whether most poets begin with such crass aspirations, I don't know. Most things that are worthwhile in my life, though, have begun with ...

ODE TO WALKING AND SINGING

MaxReif — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:16:13 -0800

ODE TO WALKING AND SINGING (a poem)Someday I'll set off walking and singing a Holy Nameand never come backbecause there's nothing like it,small body under a great sky,walking stick and hatand the path-ribbon stretching out or loopingas far as you want to go,no good reason, really, to stop,especially when you sing,because the human voiceis a bird in a cage and song allows it to soar,and when at ...

FDR: Larger Than Life, Except That He Lived!

MaxReif — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:30:14 -0800

What a story for a writer!And yet, to my knowledge, it's not yet the subject of a novel, a major movie drama, or a play*. And it's been more than half a century since the curtain closed on the life in question! I'm talking about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose life is the subject of a 4-part, 1994 PBS ("American Experience") documentary biography my wife and I watched recently on ...

A WRITER'S RESERVOIR

MaxReif — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:29:51 -0800

Again I wonder whether anything edifying, inspiring, or otherwise "alive" will ever flow from my pen or keyboard.But then, I've been wondering that for decades now, and something always has. That's the miracle, isn't it, writers? We're sort of junkies for that creative hit. At least, I am. But it's not the kind of addiction I'd enter a 12-step group for. I WAS once in a 12-step group ...

JUST BACK FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO WRITER'S CONFERENCE, 2009

MaxReif — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:03:22 -0800

It's only around four hours since I left the Mark Hopkins Hotel atop Nob Hill after spending three very intense days at the 2009 San Francisco Writer's Conference, attending workshops, networking, taking in keynote talks from established writers, enjoying great meals, and getting feedback from freelance editors--all leading up to today's climax, an hour of "speed-dating", ...