Fun-sized distillations of prose and poetry.  Self-contained nuggets of literary craft. Oliver’s Evolution His parents had not meant to abuse him; they had meant to love him, and did love him.  But Oliver had come late in their little pack of offspring, at a time when the challenge of child-rearing was wearing thin, and he proved susceptible to mishaps.  A big fetus, cramped in the mother’s womb, he was born with in-turned feet, and learned to crawl with corrective casts up to his ankles.  When they were at last removed, he cried in terror, because he thought those heavy plaster … Continue reading Short Takes III: John Updike