Nick Cave on Losing a Loved One

I love Nick Cave not for his music but for his writing. While loyal fans go to his concerts to listen to his songs, I go to his blog to read his sentences — beautiful and tender yet powerful and uncompromising sentences. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s called The Red Hand Files. It … Read more

Billy Collins Reads His Poem ‘After the Funeral’

“Look straight ahead / What’s there?” said Zen monk Bassui Tokusho moments before passing away. “If you see it as it is / you will never err.” This tender Japanese death poem would leave many of us utterly befuddled and awe-struck by its logic-shattering beauty and asking one simple question, “And then what?” Well, after … Read more