WHAT IS LITERATURE : Defining and Determining Literature and Non-Literature

Literature, unlike Mathematics and Physics, is not an exact branch of knowledge. While in Mathematics 2 multiplied by 2 equals 4, it doesn’t have to be that way in literature. This is the main reason why when it comes to the question of what literature is there is no exact definition.

Muslim scholar and philosopher Imam Ja’far Al-Sadiq defined literature as ‘the garment which one puts on what they say or write so that it Read the rest of this entry »

Women’s Rights Issue Behind Linda Pastan’s Marks

Marks
By: Linda Pastan

My husband gives me an A
for last night’s supper,
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed. Read the rest of this entry »

A Conversation in a Cab on My Way Home the Other Night

I had just finished having dinner at Dixie that night. Taking a cab home seemed a wise decision since it was pretty late and I was sure no one at home would want to pick me up. So I waited for a cab on the sidewalk before Dixie. It needed only about ten minutes until a cab finally stopped at my wave.

“Jokteng wetan, please.” I said to the cab driver right after I landed Read the rest of this entry »

An Amatory Verse

Haze in the eyes
Sweat dripping on the face
Breathing slowly, hardly
The heat on the skin
Send fire on every touch
Rising to the wails, the sighs
The lament of desire
Rising to the peak of Eden
Then slowly led back to Earth
Soaked in pleasure
From the moment to treasure

Aficionado

I reminisce
The day I recklessly fell
into the brine of burning desire
The day my heart started beating most rapidly
And temptation always put of power
The thirst for your presence
The hunger for your warmth
You turned the thirsts into agony
You altered the hunger into torment
The fire flare me up
Left me helpless, powerless
As frail as ashes

Chimerical Lament

Long after I vanished into the dark deep ocean
Snared by prickly seaweeds, grazing on my skin
I was too deep under the sea so blue and lucent
Heated by the sun and the carol of the marine
Corals so bedazzling, flying fishes dancing

Ravishing illusions compelled me deeper into the sea Read the rest of this entry »