Instructions for Being More Alive – The Marginalian
By Maria Popova We spend our lives trying to see our own light, to catch...
Poetry
The Philosopher-Naturalist John Burroughs on What Makes a Great Poem and a Great Person – The Marginalian
A person is a perpetual ongoingness perpetually mistaking itself for a still point. We call...
Or, How to Write the Book of Love – The Marginalian
By Maria Popova I spent the summer using the fantastic binomial technique developed by Gianni...
Poet Lia Purpura on the Art of Noticing – The Marginalian
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others...
Poet Jane Kenyon on the Art of Letting Go – The Marginalian
The vital force of life is charged by the poles of holding on and letting...
Ellen Bass’s Stunning Ode to the Courage of Tenderness as an Antidote to Helplessness – The Marginalian
By Maria Popova There is no greater remedy for helplessness than helping someone else, no...
What Makes a Great Poem, What Makes a Great Storyteller, and What Makes Us Human – The Marginalian
I once asked ChatGPT to write a poem about a total solar eclipse in the...
A Defense of Joy – The Marginalian
One of the most important things to have learned in life is that choosing joy...
A Cosmic Poem for the Vera Rubin Observatory – The Marginalian
By Maria Popova At the end of her trailblazing life, having swung open the gate...