In my first time ever reading you Emily Dickinson, I birth the new idiot term “pencil letter.” I praise so much today, even as the emotional fog makes happiness nearly impossible. I praise John D’Agata number one, I praise Emily, I praise Bookworm on KCRW, I praise Graywolf Press, I praise New Directions, I praise charged collisions, I praise all of you who join me every week, I praise swollen moons, and I praise even my worries. They are what they are.

Buy John D’Agata’s The Making of the American Essay here:

https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/making-american-essay

More on John D’Agata here: https://www.graywolfpress.org/author-list/john-dagata

And John D'Agata on KCRW's Bookworm here (A MUST LISTEN!): http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/bookworm/john-dagata-the-making-of-the-american-essay