Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
“Another tree stands in front of you—Fusang. A magical mulberry tree far to the east, where they keep the elixir of life.” He palms the loupe and looks up.
Richard Powers • The Overstory: A Novel
Can Volume, Pillar, Pile, preserve thee great? Or must thou trust Tradition’s simple tongue, When Flattery sleeps with thee and History does thee wrong?
Lord Byron • Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
The Buddha taught each disciple to vanquish his fancy that he possessed an individual self. Huston Smith suggests that our individuality resembles a snowflake’s: The seas evaporate water, clouds build and loose water in snowflakes, which dissolve and go to sea. The simile galls. What have I to do with the ocean, I with my unique and novel hexagons
... See moreAnnie Dillard • For the Time Being

Joseph Fasano is a writer and educator. He studied mathematics and astrophysics at Harvard University before changing his course of study and earning a degree in philosophy, with a focus on philosophy of language after Wittgenstein. He did his graduate study in poetry at Columbia University, working with Mark Strand, Lucie Brock-Broido, Richard Howard, and others. His "Poetry Prompts," originally designed to help children create, have spread around the world, helping millions of people of all ages find their voices through the craft and magic of poetry. Fasano is the author of two novels: The Swallows of Lunetto (2022) and The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing (2020), which was named one of the "20 Best Small Press Books of 2020." His books of poetry are The Last Song of the World (2024); The Crossing (2018); Vincent (2015); Inheritance (2014), a James Laughlin Award nominee; Fugue for Other Hands (2013), which won the Cider Press Review Book Award and was nominated for the Poets' Prize. A winner of the RATTLE Poetry Prize, he serves on the Editorial Board of Alice James Books, and he is the Founder of the Poem for You Series, a digital space offering recitations of listeners' favorite poems by request. His writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Yale Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Boston Review, American Poets, Measure, Tin House, American Poetry Journal, The Adroit Journal, American Literary Review, Verse Daily, the PEN Poetry Series, the Academy of American Poets' poem-a-day program, and other publications. It has been widely anthologized and translated into many languages, including Spanish, Swedish, Lithuanian, Chinese, Russian, and Ukrainian. He is also a songwriter, and his debut album, The Wind That Knows The Way, is available wherever music is sold or streamed. He can be followed on Instagram at @joseph.fasano.
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“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go b... See more
Brain Food: Being Open-Minded
When Trees Dream of Being Trees The tree decided to stop growing after it grew its thousandth leaf. “No more,” it whispered, and started throwing flimsily attached twigs and old nests down, and shaking the birds out. “I am a terrible tree! A thousand leaves is more than enough to prove that! I am slow and slight and my leaves are not lustrous. I ha
... See moreAmy Leach • Things That Are: Essays
and I wondered what would happen if I stopped trying to get back up. Just let my body go. Would I be washed out to sea? The sharks would eat my limbs and organs. Little fish would feed on my fingertips. My beautiful white bones would fall to the bottom of the ocean, where anemones would grow upon them like flowers. Pearls would rest in my eye socke
... See moreRuth Ozeki • A Tale for the Time Being: A Novel (ALA Notable Books for Adults)
