Monthly Archives: February 2012

To most completely love yourself, you must behave lovably all the time.

That headline is the shortest possible statement of an ontologically-consonant moral philosophy. More: Behave always, constantly, in such a way that you will have earned and deserved your own self-adoration. Act always to complete your self and never to dismantle … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment

A short history of creatively powered spaceflight

A short history of creatively powered spaceflight from the Niven Institute of Applied Plausibility New students to the discipline of plausibility are often shocked to discover that it was only three centuries ago that humankind toiled — for years — … Continue reading

Posted in Casual Friday | 1 Comment

The counter-countermelody…

This again is from The Unfallen. This is the descant to my earlier countermelody, both referring back to Loving Cathleen, below. There is a good deal more in the book on the philosophy of love and its contraries — plus … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment

Silence and distance and lies…

This is from my book The Unfallen. In essence, it is the countermelody to Loving Cathleen, below. I really like these two people, and I really like to let them talk. This is the furthest remove from high-action genre fiction, … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment

Digging into a very graphic love poem to get a handle on active, imagic, metaphorically-rich writing

It’s late and the kids are in bed — do make sure the kids are in bed — and I feel like digging a little deeper into the idea of writing. This is a love poem I wrote ten years … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment

Introspectroanalysis.

i took myself to the vet at the zoo to measure my animal heat for you he sounded my skull with a rap on my head and said I might need psychiatry instead the shrink had no patience for gross … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment

Why the poet always gets the girl.

You come to me by twilight In a gown of gauzy white Your sacraments revealed concealed High priestess of the night You whisper vespers whisper prayers Whisper vows of faith and fear In still and silent grace you stand As … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment

Kiss me…

kiss me your glory i kiss you my joy kiss me your giggling girlishness      i kiss you my mannish boy kiss me your tickling i kiss you my laughter kiss me your before your before your before      i kiss you … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment

Loving Cathleen…

My wife Cathleen and I have been on a love jag over the past few years, and I cannot begin to tell you how beneficial it’s been. A very simple idea: We added spending time alone together every day as … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | 1 Comment

Coco Chanel: “Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.”

When you were young and you scowled or grimaced, your mother would say, “Be careful. Your face is going to freeze like that.” You thought she was making it up. The life you live — largely introspectively — writes its … Continue reading

Posted in Splendor | Leave a comment