“Dear possible, and if you drown, Nothing is lost, unless my empty hands Claim the conjectured corpse Of empty water—a legal vengeance On my own earnestness.”

“Dear Possible” by Laura Riding - The American Scholar

Poems read aloud, beautifully

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Open our latest edition to learn more about two Kansas rivermen who were said to have perished in pursuit of giant catfish, why the pigment black has held such allure for painters, and how one anesthesiologist learned to expect the worst.

Autumn 2025 - The American Scholar

“My father lived an honorable life. He fulfilled his responsibilities to those who depended on him. Without question, he was a loving man, but there was something unknowable and untouchable about…

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“Wrecking Ball,” Rick Bass’s latest book, is “a beautifully composed and deeply insightful longform essay dealing … with race, friendship, God, and football,” writes Steve Yarbrough in his review.

A New Sweet Diminishment - The American Scholar

What happens when a 60-year-old writer dons helmet and pads to compete under the Texas lights?

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J. Malcolm Garcia’s journalism takes us into the heart of a homeless encampment without “shade, water, shelter, or any kind of supervision,” where some are lucky enough to own a tent and others sleep “on the ground with only their clothes for a blanket.”

Helping Doug - The American Scholar

At a tent encampment in Oregon, one man struggles to survive as medical volunteers try to bring a meas-ure of light to dark, uncertain days

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Our Autumn 2025 issue has arrived! Highlights include J. Malcolm Garcia’s visit to an Oregon tent encampment; Kristin Idaszak’s look at the link between horseshoe crabs and the human heart; Steve Yarbrough’s profile of writer James Whitehead; and much more!

Autumn 2025 - The American Scholar

“My father lived an honorable life. He fulfilled his responsibilities to those who depended on him. Without question, he was a loving man, but there was something unknowable and untouchable about…

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There’s a whiff of George Plimpton in Rick Bass’s decision to play football at age 60, but Bass’s descriptions of the experience in his new book are very different in temperament.

Last month, David Lehman prompted poems inspired by Emily Brontë, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Barnabe Googe, and more.

The Stolen Lines - The American Scholar

Proposing an original prompt is always a risk, but reading the poems provoked by what I shall always think of as my “stolen lines” prompt—“take a line from someone else and run with it”—I feel like…

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A bird in the hand is not just worth two in the bush. This week, Clellan Coe quickly discovers she has no idea what to do with the duckling she caught while walking her dogs.

The Duckling - The American Scholar

I was out walking the dogs early one Sunday morning when I saw something small in the middle of the road. It moved a little, veered to the side, then halted as if it expected someone to catch up. It…

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For Doug, who lives at a Portland homeless encampment, simply taking two pills a day can seem like the most daunting challenge. Although Doug’s world is uncertain and dark, those volunteering to help him and his neighbors are trying to make it a little less lonely.

Helping Doug - The American Scholar

At a tent encampment in Oregon, one man struggles to survive as medical volunteers try to bring a meas-ure of light to dark, uncertain days

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What on earth was Rick Bass thinking? At the age of 60, the celebrated writer of fiction and essays decided to join a semi-pro football team—the Texas Express—and compete in one of the most violent sports there is, against and beside men who were at least half his age.

For the next installment of Next Line Please, David Lehman proposes reversing the usual poem-first, title-second process and using one of his ready-made titles as a jumping-off point.

The Stolen Lines - The American Scholar

Proposing an original prompt is always a risk, but reading the poems provoked by what I shall always think of as my “stolen lines” prompt—“take a line from someone else and run with it”—I feel like…

theamericanscholar.org

In this week’s Asturias Days, Clellan Coe meets a lonely duckling. “Catching it had taken several tries,” she writes. “Not because it was difficult, exactly, but because you hesitate in that moment—your body unsure whether this is something one really does: pounce.”

The Duckling - The American Scholar

I was out walking the dogs early one Sunday morning when I saw something small in the middle of the road. It moved a little, veered to the side, then halted as if it expected someone to catch up. It…

theamericanscholar.org

The myriad problems associated with homelessness continue to dominate the headlines. But what is it actually like to live in a tent encampment? In our Autumn cover story, J. Malcolm Garcia introduces us to the J Street Lot in Grants Pass, Oregon.

Helping Doug - The American Scholar

At a tent encampment in Oregon, one man struggles to survive as medical volunteers try to bring a meas-ure of light to dark, uncertain days

theamericanscholar.org

As Pablo Picasso (allegedly) said, “Good artists borrow; great artists steal.” Such was the motivation behind last month’s “Next Line, Please” prompt, in which David Lehman offered a handful of “stolen lines” to his intrepid poets, encouraging them to pick one and “run with it.”

The Stolen Lines - The American Scholar

Proposing an original prompt is always a risk, but reading the poems provoked by what I shall always think of as my “stolen lines” prompt—“take a line from someone else and run with it”—I feel like…

theamericanscholar.org

What was David Brown’s night of baseball about? It was “about karma, luck, circles closed, optimism, and generosity,” he writes. And a “losing game that was a big win.”

Immaculate Innings - The American Scholar

At the ballpark on a summer night in Baltimore

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“I think it’s just really beautiful to understand art and home as being so intertwined in the same way that I understand cloth and family to be intertwined,” says artist Cici Osias.

Cici Osias - The American Scholar

Sewing cultures together

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With baseball season entering its final stretch, David Brown takes us to Baltimore’s Camden Yards, where the principal attraction on a warm July night isn’t necessarily the underwhelming Orioles but rather the ballpark giveaway: Hawaiian shirts.

Immaculate Innings - The American Scholar

At the ballpark on a summer night in Baltimore

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Thomas Gray wrote “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes” in 1747 when Horace Walpole asked him for an epitaph to commemorate his cat.

“Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes” by Thomas Gray - The American Scholar

Poems read aloud, beautifully

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Fifty years ago, Paul Theroux published “The Great Railway Bazaar,” a book that “dazzlingly lifted travel writing out of its midcentury doldrums,” as Thomas Swick writes.

The Great American Travel Book - The American Scholar

The book that helped revive a genre, leading to an all-too-brief heyday

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Studying Penelope Fitzgerald, Muriel Spark, and Anita Brookner has led Jessica Francis Kane to wonder if “there is some pattern to be discerned, some golden ratio” of motherhood and work—especially as it seems Fitzgerald is the only one who succeeded at both.

The Patient Penelope Fitzgerald - The American Scholar

Here’s to the English writer who waited until her ninth decade to finally experience fame in America

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Of all the freebies on offer at Camden Yards, the Hawaiian shirt is arguably the most coveted. The trick? You’ve got to be among the first 15,000 fans to arrive to receive one.

Immaculate Innings - The American Scholar

At the ballpark on a summer night in Baltimore

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“The Great Railway Bazaar,” writes Thomas Swick, “is also a book that frequently makes you stop and underline a sentence simply because of how brilliantly it captures a look, a scene … a precious detail, a perfect word, an unexpected finish.”

The Great American Travel Book - The American Scholar

The book that helped revive a genre, leading to an all-too-brief heyday

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This past year, textile artist Cici Osias turned her attention to quilting because of its role on the Underground Railroad, where quilting codes signified safe houses for enslaved people seeking freedom.

Cici Osias - The American Scholar

Sewing cultures together

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Socrates, not unlike the Buddha, insisted on subjecting local culture, codes, and customs to rigorous examination, leaving “no established opinion unchallenged.” A new book argues that their similarities don’t end there.

The Seeker and the Sought - The American Scholar

A prominent Buddhist scholar’s quest to unify East and West

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Growing up in Maryland’s Baltimore County, Cici Osias—who is of African-American, Haitian, Congolese, and Nigerian ancestry—was surrounded by African art and traditions.

Cici Osias - The American Scholar

Sewing cultures together

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Paul Theroux was a novelist by trade, and, as he set off from London on a journey that would take him across continents, he used fiction techniques to bring a wide cast of characters to life.

The Great American Travel Book - The American Scholar

The book that helped revive a genre, leading to an all-too-brief heyday

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“Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes” by Thomas Gray has resonated with many cat lovers—including William Blake, who illustrated the poem just before the turn of the century. @tate.bsky.social exhibited these watercolors in 1971.

“Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes” by Thomas Gray - The American Scholar

Poems read aloud, beautifully

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“Long ago, @elizmccrack.bsky.social … said, ‘We all write with everything we have and for some of us that includes children, and for some of us it does not,’” Jessica Francis Kane writes. “I believe this. But if I can refresh Fitzgerald’s literary legacy … I’d like to.”

The Patient Penelope Fitzgerald - The American Scholar

Here’s to the English writer who waited until her ninth decade to finally experience fame in America

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While Cici Osias was growing up, artwork from the African diaspora hung on her relatives’ walls, and she wore Nigerian textiles, or “aso ebi,” to family functions. During her college years, Osias delved deeper into the history and creation of Nigerian textiles.

Cici Osias - The American Scholar

Sewing cultures together

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David Brown’s recent summer evening turned out to be memorable for reasons beyond the freebie that brought him to a ball game: friendships and chance encounters that rendered the game’s outcome irrelevant.

Immaculate Innings - The American Scholar

At the ballpark on a summer night in Baltimore

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