Month: March 2022

Poetry

Hiding the wretch that I am by Emalisa Rose

She kisses my handand blows me anotherwhen we say goodbye for the day.We played bingo (she won)made paper flowers, said grace and had minestrone.I come twice a monthas a floor volunteer butI’m really this horrible person,getting worse with each birthday.But I wear soft spotsfor cats and opossum, all kinds of straysand old gals in nursing homes.I should probably just set up camp therein this alternative universe;It’s … Continue reading Hiding the wretch that I am by Emalisa Rose

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Poetry

The Country Club Set by John Delaney

Apologies to L. P. Hartley The past is a private country club.We knew someone who knew someoneand secured a family membership.The dues are pretty stiff, but we can choosewith whom to fraternize: the exclusiveand privileged and/or better born.Often, we’d rather hobnob there than here—to sit out on the greenside patioin the early evening summer lightand watch the last group’s approaching shots.To toast our handicaps with … Continue reading The Country Club Set by John Delaney

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Criticism

They Don’t Build Statues of Critics…Just Mansplainers: On White Men Feeling the Need to Chime in About Statues of Literary Critics When a Girl Just Wants to Have Fun

Charli XCX is finally having a moment. Or, at least, a moment that’s more in the mainstream than ever before. This being a result of her push to become a Right Proper Pop Star by fully utilizing all the major resources of her juggernaut label, Atlantic, to promote her last album of the contract, Crash (an erudite J. G. Ballard reference, in case you didn’t … Continue reading They Don’t Build Statues of Critics…Just Mansplainers: On White Men Feeling the Need to Chime in About Statues of Literary Critics When a Girl Just Wants to Have Fun

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Fiction

In Rough Economic Times, the Community College Instructor Teaches Critical Reasoning by Paul Dickey

I don’t remember working for the Mafia, but it is possible. I keep finding things in the basement: wads of cash in small denominations; arguments for the existence of God too good to be true; boxes full of old, irrelevant premises without claims; young men and women working sixty hours a week and preferring to use their leftover time to text each other rather than … Continue reading In Rough Economic Times, the Community College Instructor Teaches Critical Reasoning by Paul Dickey

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Poetry

Poets Out of Service by Michael Lee Johnson

Like a full-service gas stationor postal service workersdisplaced, racing to Staples retailfor employment against the rules of labor,poets are out of business nowadays, you know.Who carries loose change in their pockets?Who tosses loose coins in their car ashtray anymore?iPhones, smartphones, life is a video cameraready to shoot, destroy and expose.No one reads poets anymore. No one thumbs through the yellow pages anymore.Who has sex in the … Continue reading Poets Out of Service by Michael Lee Johnson

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Poetry

Grace Under Pressure by Susie Gharib

The first time I became familiar with such a conceptI was teaching For Whom the Bell Tolls to undergrads.The idea appealed to my sense of decorum,so I decided to adopt such a challenging stance,yet it came to me naturallyas I was attuned to the stoical way of lifeand one manifestation was during the never-ending Syrian war. Four rockets fell not far where I stood,lecturing on … Continue reading Grace Under Pressure by Susie Gharib

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Poetry

My Struggle by Ron Kolm

In 1992 Jerry Brown,The liberal ex-governor of California,Ran against Bill ClintonIn the race to becomeThe Democratic nominee for PresidentOf the United States of America.He entered the New York primaryAnd came to New York City to campaign.While he was here he shoppedIn Coliseum Bookstore on 57th Street Surrounded by a phalanxOf Secret Service agents.When he approached the cash registerWith a pile of booksI leaned over from … Continue reading My Struggle by Ron Kolm

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