A dusty corner of the internet (swept occasionally)https://www.monastic.me/https://www.monastic.me/essay/tell-about-it/https://www.monastic.me/essay/tell-about-it/“Instructions for living a life.  Pay attention.  Be astonished. Tell about it.”  — Mary Oliver  I have always loved this poem by Mary Oliver. I think I’ve done okay-ish at the first two. But theMon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/random-autumn-thoughts/https://www.monastic.me/essay/random-autumn-thoughts/Here are some random thoughts I had recently. * Letter writing creates a unique four-way conversation across time: There's me writing to you now (before you've read and received the letter), future Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/andre-breton-poem-about-his-wife/https://www.monastic.me/essay/andre-breton-poem-about-his-wife/I can't imagine any more beautiful way to be described by a lover... He describes her body, but perhaps the illogic in his description is what makes the poem so deep and pure. I bolded my favorite paSat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/ordinary-things-described-in-extraordinary-sentences/https://www.monastic.me/essay/ordinary-things-described-in-extraordinary-sentences/Among the many things I track in my reading are extraordinary things described in extraordinary ways. I have a collection of them, which I'll share in three or four quotes at a time. But I'm startingSat, 11 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/ney-stan/https://www.monastic.me/essay/ney-stan/The ney is a musical instrument made from bamboo (reed flute). But Rumi uses it to explain the human condition. The voice of the ney is the voice of every human soul that has ever felt the ache of lonWed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/gaza/https://www.monastic.me/essay/gaza/There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. – Howard Zinn Love the most powerful force we have. Many of us love deeply (which is good) but we don’t love widely. LovinWed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/poverty-in-literature/https://www.monastic.me/essay/poverty-in-literature/I collect quotes from books I like about different topics. One of those topics is poverty. Poverty impacts and defines people in different ways; some are blatantly evident, and some are deeply hidden.Wed, 06 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/sarahs-face-what-a-pity/https://www.monastic.me/essay/sarahs-face-what-a-pity/My mother is 59. In the Saudi culture she grew up in, women rarely took photographs. It wasn't just lack of access. It was another taboo. Cameras existed, but they weren't meant for women. A woman couThu, 17 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/in-my-fine-establishment-arrived-a-constant/https://www.monastic.me/essay/in-my-fine-establishment-arrived-a-constant/In a corner of Brooklyn Heights, stood the charming establishment of 45 Pineapple, which I’m the proud owner of. My establishment didn’t cater to travelers or tourists—Mayor Eric Adams had banned shorThu, 19 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/opposites-2/https://www.monastic.me/essay/opposites-2/I'll slowly reshare my old blog posts here in a sequence that makes sense to me. This is a poem I wrote in 2023. I avoided rereading it since then. I somehow assumed I'd cringe if I reread it. But I'mSun, 09 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/learning-religion/https://www.monastic.me/essay/learning-religion/Two comments on this piece: 1. Writing about difficult topics is daunting and can be self-indulgent, or just sickly dwelling. So the only tasteful approach to these dark and sad areas is humor. HOWEFri, 07 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.monastic.me/essay/10-years/https://www.monastic.me/essay/10-years/On this day 10 years ago, I booked a one-way ticket and showed up in New York with rudimentary English, no plan, and not even ONE familiar person. This essay is a love letter to New York.Sat, 13 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT