TELLING SMALL STORIES—ABOUT A BANANA IN THIS CASE

It is quite possible that this post adds up to nothing. But, on this cold-clear day after Christmas, it has two good stories in it, so it is not, I think, a total loss.
I have just finished, two minutes ago, a fine essay by Paul Willis (in his forthcoming book To Build a Trail) about his interviewing the poet Mary Oliver. It is filled with a car-load of revelatory details, including her need to smoke a cigarette just before the event. And it ends with an excellent punch line: “And ...