Book review: Ink Black Heart
I recently listened to the audio version of the detective novel The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith. Galbraith is the pen name used by J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter…
Poem: Full-Blood Moon
Through the narrow window, the full-blood moon floated in the black water of the bathtub, next to where you laid with your face against the wall sobbing. Pressing my cheek…
Grumpy book review: Lapvona
I don’t fit into the intended audience of most contemporary fiction reviewers so I try to avoid them. But a recent YouTube reviewer had one of my favorites, Blood Meridian,…
Poem: For Penny
With the broken-hearted language of the abandoned, the orphan spoke into the rising smoke above the campfire. Her voice carried through the smoke and sparks into the night beyond where…
Poem: The Thing She Said to Me
The Thing She Said to Me The poets and rockers didn’t go beyond Avenue A, where the poverty was unromantic. My fifth-floor walk-up (Ave. C and 9th) looked over the…
Poem: 5th Street
5th Street After art history, the widow drove me to my slum studio. Its only north-facing window overlooked the vacant lot where I saw a shootout my first night there.…
Poem: Why do I remember this?
Why do I remember? I’ve carried this, and now–see?–here it is. Guided by a compulsion (that has never left me) I painted the walls of my mother’s house the entire…
Poem: On and on played they
In the corner of the ruined room, she was crying, frightened of herself and angry at us. ‘Freedom is full of monsters. Just get out.’ Read moreRobert SmithI ran to…