The American Scholar

Commonplace Book

In the popular belief, ghosts are a selecting tribe, avoiding millions, speaking to one.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Demonology,” North American Review, 1877

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.

-Jane Kenyon, “Let Evening Come,” , 1996

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The American Scholar

The American Scholar6 min read
Lunching With Rabi
On October 28, 1964, when I was 26 years old and in my first semester as an instructor in Columbia University’s English Department, my father called and asked if I’d read an article in The New York Times that morning about I. I. Rabi. I had not. “Wel
The American Scholar16 min read
The Redoubtable Bull Shark
JOHN GIFFORD is a writer and conservationist based in Oklahoma. His books include Red Dirt Country: Field Notes and Essays on Nature; Pecan America: Exploring a Cultural Icon; and the forthcoming Landscaping for Wildlife: Essays on Our Changing Plane
The American Scholar4 min read
We've Gone Mainstream
Marie Arana’s sprawling portrait of Latinos in the United States is rich and nuanced in its depiction of the diversity of “the least understood minority.” Yet LatinoLand is regrettably old-fashioned and out-of-date. For starters, Hispanics aren’t rea

Related