October 13, 2019 I let it go. It’s like swimming against the current. It exhausts you. After a while, whoever you…
Memory Poem
A dream wherein I have every sensation that I’m on a winding forest path, complete with damp air, bird song; life…
All of my friends are lonely
Notes from the inside This inner world we show each other these as best as we can, trying not to…
The Air Between Us
“I will sing while you croak, I will dance over your dirty corpse…” And the story of Tania’s cunt Four…
The White Rose of the Tarot
The white rose in tarot is shown on two cards of the major arcana: the Fool and Death. The Fool…
You’re a Human Thing
:: HUMAN :: Hello, Human! Hello. You are flesh and sinew and blood and bone! You are morning glory cells…
In the empty
Not another sad poem I don’t want to write another Lost-in-the-night-of-my-soul, Moonlight to guide me, But the heavy’s getting old,…
Returning
I’ve been returning to myself, lately. I recognized some time ago that I had gone very far away from who…
The trickster effect and a new year
The past meets me at my doorstep, in the mirror, in a crowd of faces, in the playlist on shuffle-…
Rosamond, 1978 (Excerpt)
My grandmother, Rosamond, moved to Manhattan in the late 70s, some time after her divorce was finalized. She was in…
Entry 112016 – He’s so tired and I stand by
My love, he’s so tired and I stand by, face facing the wet pavement, I know what the sky looks…
Entry 111916 – Flowers in the dark of night
We are all much like flowers in the dark of night, awaiting the arrival of the sun, beneath natural forces,…
Entry 111216- You like a good show
The first to congratulate the one who does a fine trick, Your concept of quality (you proudly proclaim it as…
Entry 102716 – Music on the hill
My grandmother told me, She said, her mother, Ruth, sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee warming her…
Entry 91515 – Devil in Shadow
The devil follows me He makes pacts with my shadow I stand by helplessly, I stay away So he stays…
Entry 61015 – Softly Built
In the night, at first, I painted pictures of my insides with words. The tired eyes, still and icy, inviting…
On Broadway: ‘The Encounter’ Gets in Your Head
Simon McBurney The Arthur Golden theater on Broadway, built in 1929, is housing a one man show run on haunting…
What We Can Learn from the Autumn Garden
The autumn garden in late afternoon sun. Spring gardens get the glut of our attention for their buzzing, dripping, luscious…
Entry 82316 – Overexposure
It rings in my ears, the words “why are you showing me this?” Already insecure that my past The dimly-lit…
Entry 72616- Now is the Time of Monsters
As I sit sipping black, sweet coffee, The sun pouring into my room A weight is on my shoulders, though…
Entry 92115 – Floater
With a world waiting under waves, I met you at the surface Your home was within sight, under the moon,…
Entry 92115 – Harsh light on the softest memory
I would run back And turn on all the lights And kiss your lips so hard they bled, Hold your…
Entry 11416- Beyond What Poems Do – A Response to Poet Ntozake Shange
My Response to this magical image: Oh, yes. A poem is A thing that wants to be caught, but…
121615- Grief Song
What impossible decisions I’ve made, the weight of them, The scars and time it’s taken to heal enough to breath…
121615- Cutting Hair
In the mirror I was not who I had been Before my hair grew long, down past my waist, A…
Entry 121115- Heart on the Ground
In a shape so clearly made of two halves, a whole, I wonder now if the invisible line that breaks…
Entry 52615 – Either Side of the Fire
You say I make you happy, always have. Then why the burning at the backs of my heels? This firey…
Entry 91615 – Onward
Don’t we all walk a path Which looks here and there, In shadows it hides and the sun sometimes blinds…
Entry 81915 – From the Highest Shelf
Once I tried to change the story. I opened a new book beside my life as Story, wherein I lay…
Entry 82315- Flowers in Their Hair
Girls and women paint themselves, Deserving of praise for what abundance they represent- The earth songs their heels sing, step…
Entry 81915 – Failing Them
There is one of me and you, and you: you are them. The quiet understanding is that. A meaningful gesture…
Entry 72315- Unknowing as an Art
Imagine for a moment that your language is as foreign as the many you don’t understand. Your thoughts are…
Entry 71815- Home Made
Waking up, it was quiet in the small home I made, of modest yet precious items. Bright petals ripen to…
Entry 71415- Twisted Tongues
Just wondering if we speak the same language, words fall heavy on my ears mind rephrases it “don’t go, love…
Entry 71315- Stand
The cup overflows; left out in a storm, it did what it could. I watched the glass fill with new…
Entry 71115- The Well-Deep Thought Mine
My twisted belly knows it squeezes, rocks My beating heart knows meaty life-giver My chattering teeth Chipped fingernails know clipped…
Entry 71015- The Things I Wanted to Tell You
The things I wanted to tell you dance fast along in my mind. Nights I sleep on these thoughts. The…
Entry 7615- The No Cry Woman
The curse can be a blessing if you know how to take it. Into your folds and dimples, the sore…
Entry 7715- A Bird with One Wing
To navigate with a single eye, One must employ a range of forgotten sensory powers. Inner ears attune to map…
On the “Useless” Emotion of Guilt
On the third night of a weekend retreat on Buddhist grounds, somewhere in the state of New York, I asked…
Entry 61615 – Skins
We’ve talked about this before. I’m far from settled, a nomad embracing her pariah skins, bracing for embraces of her…
Entry 61615 – Halved
________________________________ Halved am I, unreachable between worlds. Pulling from one will break me. _________________________________
Entry 61015 – Fractured Skull, Round Two
Don’t worry about the bruised and broken chest. Concern yourself with your head, for you have much to decide. Think…
Climbing Trees, Smelling Flowers: A Rainy Nature Walk
I kneeled to the glory of mushrooms growing up from cracks in the pavement. How tough must they be to…
Entry 6315: Revival
Stop! I see you’re bleeding and it’s getting everywhere, on everything- the markings of your loss. Rest, it’ll slow. When…
Entry 52715- Ripe
It’s a bad idea to love me, now. There’s fruit that goes bad on the vine, you know. Hard and…
Entry 52715- The Veil
Earth sounds loud above, ominous thundering breaks my concentration. We know the sun is there, but the light is easily…
Entry 52315- Raw
We don’t always show the raw ingredients of our present emotions. Some need time to cook To be tried…
Entry 52015- A Mythical Creature, Wanted
To be known without getting into trouble- A test of concealment, wickedly daunting for the vigorous soul. “You, you…
Entry 51715- The Serpent
It kills me to be this way, One foot on earth. Afraid of entering the deep, Least stable in my…
Weathering a Storm of the Heart
Heartache is a creature discomfort unlike any other known to us humans. Unlike the usual sadness or despair we experience…
Crashing: Thoughts on a Bus
On the bus, I looked out the dirty window and wondered how many people out there wanted to survive themselves…
‘Topaz’: Romance in a Violent World
People fall in love everywhere, all the time. They fall for fellow workers and comrades. They flirt in dirty bomb…
New York in the Time of Blossoms
There’s a dramatic shift that takes place between the end of winter and the full flourishing of spring time. Earth…
Update: Joe O’Donoghue’s ‘Happenstansically Beautiful’
In October, I wrote about a chance meeting I had with Brooklyn- based artist named Joe O’Donoghue and his newly…
Feminism in Rom-Coms Case Study: ‘Someone Like You’
I grew up watching romantic comedies. My childhood was full of screen stories about semi-cynical modern women fussing over strangely…
‘The Birds’
I grew up hearing about two Hitchcock films: ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’. Where the former lives up to the thrill…
The Soul Journey of ‘Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter’
What are we to do when something nags us inside and won’t let our attention go? What are we, soft…
‘Big Eyes’: Hidden Histories
Women’s stories are just beginning to come to light in film beyond chick flicks and romances. Tim Burton’s latest feature…
This One Goes Out to ‘The One I Love’
He said and she said: their love was tanking. The romance was a struggle. Could they ever move forward together…
The Quiet Lineage of Class War: ‘Little Accidents’
America, “the land of the free”, is a vast space with two borders that bleed drinkable prosperity and a center…
‘Appropriate Behavior’: The Importance of Unromantic Comedy
In an awards season teeming with adorable, quirky romantic comedies, Desiree Akhavan’s decidedly unromantic comedy is a nice departure from…
‘Obvious Child’: A Continuation of Last Year’s Brilliant Feminist Rom-Com Magic
Back in 2014, I wrote that ‘In a World‘ was the first truly feminist romantic comedy I’d ever seen. The…
‘Marnie’: The Complexities of a ” Sex Mystery”
“One might call ‘Marnie’ a ‘sex mystery’, if one used such words.” – Alfred Hitchcock ‘Marnie’ is by far the…
Conservation as Documentary: ‘Virunga’
When I told three different friends that I’d seen Orlando van Einsiedel’s documentary, ‘Virunga’, their reactions were similar. They knew…
Snow Day in Brooklyn!
This afternoon I filled my travel mug with coffee, laced up my snow boots and walked around Boerum Hill and…
Walking Through Blizzard Juno in Central Park
Yesterday the city of New York was wrapped up in a blanket of giddy cheer because almost every municipal worker,…
The Cinematic Journey: ‘Birdman’
I often find myself wrapped up in writing about Story in film. I like Story. I get into the grit…
Suffering Your Art: ‘Whiplash’
Stories about artists struggling to reach success are often sympathetic to the artist. They’re usually focused completely on the false…
‘The Judge’: Fathers and Sons
“I saw him in you” “I saw you in him” The house of mirrors that is every story about fathers…
‘Still Alice’ and the Empathetic Eye
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in three seniors are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. There…
A Debut: Dan Gilroy’s ‘Nightcrawler’
* Spoiler alert Awards season 2015 is brimming with brazenly self-aware stories. Well, no one can say such a thing…
‘Foxcatcher’: Unforgiving Expectations
Foxcatcher is based on violent and disturbing real life events. The extent to which these events are portrayed truthfully is…
The Tragedy of ‘Gone Girl’
If I knew how Nick and Amy’s relationship came together, I might feel like this movie came together with that…
‘St. Vincent’: Bright Spot of this Awards Season
A critic wrote not too long ago that Bill Murray needs to drop his 800-number and get an agent so…
Sweet Liberation: ‘Cake’
I’ve become obsessed with freedom. What is it? Who has it? How can I tell? What does it look like?…
On ‘Boyhood’
From a technical standpoint, Richard Linklater’s ‘Boyhood’ is absolutely beautiful. The film was made in pieces over a period of…
‘Wild’ on the Path to Consciousness
Wild has been praised by critics and audiences alike mainly because people love seeing people make tons of mistakes and…
The Extreme Misogyny of ‘Vertigo’
I often wonder why Jimmy Stewart, an actor known for having a wholesome nature in an out of character, would…
Killer Heels at The Brooklyn Museum
I visited the Brooklyn Museum on Friday afternoon. Got some coffee and headed on in to explore the deep. I…
The Best Christmas Movie? Maybe not, but it’s my favorite!
I recently told a friend that I don’t judge anyone based on the cheesy movies they like, but the good…
True Love & ‘Perfect Sense’
Perfect Sense: A film that begs the question of what we are without our senses. What are tongues that can’t…
‘Sex & the City’ in 2014
Strange as it may seem to some, I saw this “Sex & the City” just around the time it was…
Old / Interesting: Deviant Women in Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘The Weight of Water’
Kathryn Bigelow is known for her gut-wrenching studies of contemporary warriors and putting modern war tactics on display to the…
Old / Interesting: M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Unbreakable’
I recently read a crude article in which some journalist attacked M. Night Shyamalan’s entire career. It was so plain…
The Most Classic Horror Film: ‘Psycho’
All my life I’ve heard people name Hitchcock’s “Psycho” as the scariest movie they’ve ever seen. I heard the music…
‘The Lady Vanishes’ – To Judge and to Fear
Conspiracy Thrills One life. Hitchcock tended toward the kind of funny that pokes fun at institutions and systems. In “The…
Choreographing Feeling: ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’
I finally got a chance to see Wes Anderson’s latest, ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. I must say that it made…
You know what? 5 Reasons Why ‘Dear White People’ is a Must-See Dramedy
1. Woman with a Camera: In a film which seeks to expose a great number of social issues, giving multiple…
Reaction to Four Umbrellas – Tupac Martir @NYFOL
Dumbo is small and steep and low. When it rains, it floods. The streets are unsteady, the buildings are old…
The New York Festival of Light
The experience of walking through Dumbo at night has changed enormously in the past few years. Since the development of…
A Purist Rom-Com: A Touch of Death in ‘The Trouble with Harry’
From death cometh life and the living can be ridiculous! Fascinating! Oh good, good grief! Alfred Hitchcock always liked his…
The Art of the Art that Melts: Brooklyn Ice Sculptor Joe O’Donoghue’s Latest Exhibit
You know those stories where someone finds a random object that turns out to be a key to a very…
The World of ‘Outlander’ vs. the Spectacle of ‘Reign’
I love history and I truly appreciate that people who run television networks think historical characters are worth putting on…
Top 10 Feminist Films, 2000-2010
In which I introduce ten beautiful and innovative stories about women who thrive against the odds set against them. These…
‘It Makes Me Happy’ – A Short Film About a Little Pianist
Meet Meagan Cook Mora, a ten year old award-winning pianist from Costa Rica. I shot and edited this film when…
The Scholar Must Die: Lars von Trier’s ‘Nymphomaniac’
I began to write, at the force of a mental flood, about Lars von Trier’s ‘Nymphomaniac’ parts I and II…
Psychopathy in Hitchcock Thrillers ‘Rope’ (1948)
Character Study: Rupert Cadell (‘Rope’, 1948) I recently read an article in which the author questioned whether a psychopath could…
Private Worlds: Hitchcock’s Penchant for Rule-Breakers (“Rear Window”, 1954)
“Rear Window” is a frustrating story to follow. With unbelievable characters and a seriously Mr. Magoo protagonist, I found it…
ArtFarm @SmackMellon Gallery (DUMBO)
It rained really hard on the 5 boroughs Wednesday night. I got stuck in DUMBO just before a magnificent thunderstorm…
A Look at Police Violence & Race in Ryan Coogler’s ‘Fruitvale Station’
Oscar Grant was shot by a policeman at Fruitvale Station in Oakland just after midnight on January 1st, 2009. He…
‘Gideon’s Army’: Documenting the Justice System
Public defenders uphold the constitutional right of an accused citizen to have defense under the presumption of the court that…
Rubin Museum // Reflection
My first trip to the Rubin Museum was with a group of acerbically-minded third graders. I immediately felt comforted in…
Documentary Reflection: ‘The Square’
The most sinful behavior -if ever there was anything we could truly consider a “sin” about human nature- is that…
Documentary: Framing Cultural Violence in ‘The Act of Killing’
‘The Act of Killing’ The way viewers react to Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary ‘The Act of Killing’ comes down to the…
Quiet Hipster Films / A Cinematic Whisper in Black/White: ‘Frances Ha’
Frances, O, Frances, where are you? Brooklyn, in the era of Hipsters and post-feminist feminists, in which no twenty-something without…
Gun Violence On-Screen in ‘Blue Caprice’
The truest expression of horror is exacting terrifying measures on innocent creatures in an emotionless state. ‘Blue Caprice’, based on…
‘Short Term 12’ Hits Home
If you have ever worked with kids, and you appreciate their age, you know that they teach you more than…
‘20 Feet from Stardom’ Review
From the first moment, ’20 Feet from Stardom’ inhale-exhales devotion. Devotion to a group of mega-talented performers who held up…
In the Life of Llewyn Davis / NYC in the 60s
The makings of a film people will watch: NEW YORK CITY + Music + The Coen Brothers made it. Not…
A Knock-out Drama: the Private World Explored in ‘Concussion’
‘Concussion’: She said “I have to do something.” Abby Ableman reads and vacuums at the same time, fixes up hole-in-the-wall…
Reflection: “The Dinner Party” (2014)
To walk around “The Dinner Party” is to greet history in a fuller, less inhibited manner. Designed, built and…
Oscars Watch: Cate Blanchett in ‘Blue Jasmine’
Cate Blanchett’s Oscar-winning role in ‘Blue Jasmine’ was the grittiest and most econo-socially relevant of the season. There was the…
‘Go for Sisters’ Review
Go for Sisters How many dramatic or crime-centered movies have you seen in your lifetime that had not just one…
Wangechi Mutu’s “The Fantastic Journey”
Having previously written about the very ….how should I put it? well-documented Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum,…
Jean Paul Gaultier // The Brooklyn Museum
The magnificent Jean Paul Gaultier show at the Brooklyn Museum ended with a swarming salute from the last round of…
Period Films: My Love of Other Eras
Romantic period films and longing through my ages It seems to me that there are not many films that portray…
The First Feminist Rom-Com: ‘In a World’
‘In a World…’ is perhaps the only successful feminist critique of the entertainment industry to ever have been brought forward…
Project Continua + The Sackler Center
brooklynmuseum: I was blown away by the success of Saturday’s Wikipedia edit-a-thon. We couldn’t have hoped for a more enthusiastic…
‘Gravity’: Run to Return
One hundred synonyms for “beautiful” could be dug up to describe ‘Gravity’, Alfonso Cuarón’s latest hit, written with his son,…
Reality, History, and Silence: ‘Dallas Buyers Club’
‘Dallas Buyers Club’ could be a film that alters the way audiences view people of varying sexual expression. It could…
Americana: A Tribute to Nothingland in A. Payne’s ‘Nebraska’
Nebraska: a story of the heartland. An Americana gem. Black and white and cold throughout, Alexander Payne’s latest feature seems…
Fading Glamour and Psychological Grit in ‘American Hustle’
Who’s the criminal in a thieving system? In a band of uglies, who’s the worst? We audience members love watching…
Captain Muse & ‘Captain Phillips’
If ever there was a film that immediately made the audience feel sympathy for every single character in a band…
In Praise of ‘The Butler’
Billed as a the story of a father and son living in two seemingly opposing worlds, Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’…
On ‘12 Years A Slave’
Film journalist and writer Johanna Schneller opened the press conference for ‘12 Years A Slave’ at the Toronto International Film…
A Two-fold History of Silence Exposed in ‘Philomena’
The real life Philomena Lee has had many trials in her life, namely the loss of her son to the…
Blame, Sweet Blame: ‘Enough Said’
With all the makings of a Hollywood romantic comedy, Enough Said is this year’s winner in the category of light-hearted…
10 Films That Passed the Bechdel Test in 2013 | Tribeca
Here are ten films from 2013 that actually pass the Bechdel Test. This test, which assesses only the most basic…
The Primordial Darkness of ‘August: Osage County’
An alternative tagline for the screen version of August: Osage County could be “Streep and Roberts go darker than ever,…
New Greek Cinema: “What If…?”
Christoforos Papakaliatis wrote, directed and starred in “What If…?”, a hardcore romance, two ways. Will his character, Dimitris, follow his…
Analysis of Hitchcock’s ‘Saboteur’
Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Saboteur’ exemplifies the director’s drive for subverting his audience’s sympathies. There is a daringly clarified critique of systematic…
The Beautiful Evil: Hitchcock’s ‘Shadow of a Doubt’
‘Shadow of a Doubt’ is a beautiful example of the study of Evil. We are constantly confronted with images and…
The Oscars and The Bechdel Test – YouTube
Feminist Frequency put Oscar nominated films to the Bechdel test in 2012. Watch how it played out…apply these questions to…
Henry Miller & Anaïs Nin on Death and Dreams – YouTube
On the tragedy/horror/senselessness of being dead while your heart is beating. Also, the trick to maintaining your dream-state long enough…
Harlem, NYC / Growing
In time: art takes over, nature grows through, people forget, and Spring renews
Review of a Tiny Piano Starlet: Meagan Cook Mora
Meagan Cook has played music at Carnegie Hall before. She has even played at Carnegie Hall at Christmas time before.…
Mind & Body Films of The 2013 Awards Season
The SAG Awards, which took place on Sunday, 1/27, are completely in the hands of union actors, and the people…
Empathy, Lust and Love: ‘The Sessions’
After seeing ‘The Sessions’, I was left wondering about the actual purpose of love in some people’s lives. It often…
The Dalloway Opens in SoHo
The Dalloway in SoHo is the perfect place to go on a cold, rainy, windy winter night in NYC. I mean the…
‘The Impossible’ Horror of Reality
On December 26th, 2004, thousands of families who had come to vacation in various coastal resorts around the luxurious South Pacific…
On Realism and Telling History: ‘Lincoln’
Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ is a story molded out of cold facts and softened by clever anecdotal interludes between Lincoln and his…
‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ & The Girl
‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ is a modern fairytale. Modern because it is about a fiercely strong little girl, which…
“Elementary”: About One Sherlock Holmes & Joan Watson
In the rarest of cases, I get very attached to TV shows. If I really like a show, I find…
Something I Liked About SNL, Ep.7/S.38
Anyone who watches Saturday Night Live knows that the lifeblood of the show is its actor/writer’s brilliant impressions of the most recgonizable people in…
The Stand Comedy Club & Restaurant is Now Open in Gramercy
If you have a sense of humor and an eclectic palette, and want to make sure the person you’re dating…
Help Get BEDBUGS!!! (The Comedy Sci-Fi Musical) Off-Broadway
BEDBUGS!!! The Comedy Sci-fi Thriller Rock Musical lives up to its name in every sense of the word. It is…
La Bottega: Awesome Italian in the Heart of Chelsea
La Bottega at the Maritime Hotel is the perfect place to luxuriate in the late-night hours of a crisp, clear-skied autumn…
The Indie Film World Reformation
“The indie theatrical release is dead” proclaimed Michael Kang, the indie film director of Kimberley Rose Wolters’s new feature-length romantic comedy…
Ideas of Searching in ‘Searching for Sugar Man’
The first mistake a movie-goer can make is to assume that the way the story they came to see is going to be told in the…
Kaitlin Sansoucie 