Review
The Bunker Diaries – review
Marc Olmsted
The Bunker Diaries
By Stewart Meyer
Beatdom Books
$19.99
The Bunker* is one of the major sites of Beat History, the downtown NYC lair of William Burroughs. Two others I can think of: The Six Gallery** where Howl was first read aloud by Allen Ginsberg. The third is the Beat Hotel in the Latin quarter of Paris,***, where Gregory Corso lived in the attic, Burroughs & Brion Gysin discovered the cut-up method with an accidental slice of newsprint, and Allen Ginsberg passed through at the end of the 1950s.
photograph by James Grauerholz
With only Gary Snyder remaining among us, we now must rely on younger friends of the Beats for any direct history. Stewart Meyer hung out at the Bunker quite a bit from 1978 to 1983. This was New York City’s hey-day of punk bands -- as well a wide wave of heroin use. Elsewhere in NYC, photographer Nan Goldin’s polaroids capture the baked eyes of cool kids, some on their way to the grave. ...
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Story
After the Lunch Counter
Myles Zavelo
Their eyes locked at the shopping mall in late June. They spotted each other between Guitar Center and Cold Stone Creamery.
Around an hour later, at the classic lunch counter in town, they began knowing each other. The co...
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Poem
Missing You
Edna Lyons
As though one death wasn’t enough every day I wake up I am reminded I am dying there is nothing I can do about it I am resigned to live over and over again til I die while dying over and over again if that makes any sense ...
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Review
Black Mystery School Pianists (and other writings) by Matt Shipp – reviewed
Carl Watson
I should start out this review by admitting that I know nothing about jazz. There are, of course, musicians I appreciate but in terms of the genre I am, sadly, ignorant. I have heard Matt play and I have a few of his solo re...
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Interview
An Interview with Ishmael Reed
John Wisniewski
John Wisniewski: Ishmael, your mother actually wrote a book. Could you tell us about this? What inspired you to become an author?
Ishmael Reed: My mother, Thelma V. Reed, wrote a book called Black Girl From Tannery Flats....
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Story
Hitler’s Dog
bart plantenga
“Thank god those dogs can’t talk” • Hermann Goering
The news of my death was greatly exaggerated. Because, as is obvious, here I am, dictating this to my master, who I know types fast and hopes to make a “killin...
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Story
Nothing Helps Anyone
T Francis Curran
Melany started taking meds in ninth grade to help her focus. It worked with boys, with the AP curriculum, not so much. She went to the prom with Tony who proposed to her in his tux. She ended their engagement tearfully in co...
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Story
Floating Moments in Space
Rachel Speed
The meditative hush of the sea, in and out, in and out, like the breath. The pebbles beneath her grounded her to this world. It brought her into the present and drowned out the strange problems and dramas of human life. All ...
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Story
The Pale Riders Guild
Alan Schwartz
We of the guild, are easily recognized by a certain unique glow, that manifests where there was once pigmentation. In our continuum of colors, white is not one but rather the absence of one. Unfortunately, for those of ...
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Writing
Poems and Prose as Personal Protective Equipment
Margarita Meklina
“And then double strap them!” The white noise of the humming machinery is pierced by his voice. His face angry, his bare knees angular, he cuts through the still air of the night warehouse, “Do your effing job! Don’t...
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Story
The Complex
Shawn Yager
The kids played on the old playground at the back of the complex. Everything was metal, and rusted. There were sharp corners. When you fell, it hurt.
"Better than nothing," parents said with a shrug. "Just gotta be c...
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Writing
The Future Impulse or Mind the Mints
A. Kaye
LSD₂₅₀, an experimental drug of unknown properties was developed during the late 1960s. A variety of test subjects were found, all volunteers, mostly burned-out cases. The experiments were illegally sponsored by the CI...
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Story
There is a country…
Allan Graubard
There is a country all too rarely visited where nothing ever happens. It is a place as calm as a tomb, and with the same bleak hope as a tomb. Its citizens take this for granted, wishing above all to preserve the sanctity of...
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Review
Night Bird Flying by Danny Shot – Review
Richard Modiano
NIGHT BIRD FLYING
by Danny Shot
Roadside Press
Release date: February 12, 2025. Available for pre-order.
Danny Shot’s Night Bird Flying from Roadside Press is a fierce and poignant collection that captures the grit and tenderness of life on the fringes—where New Jersey meets New York and scars of the past meet the possibility of healing. Shot’s voice is steeped in the dualities of identity, blending humor with heartache and toughness with vulnerability.
In “Ich bin ein New Yorker,” Shot wrestles with his outsider status in the New York literary scene, even though he lived in the city and shared spaces with renowned poets. He tackles the sting of being labeled “a Jersey poet” with wry humor and underlying frustration, bringing to light the complex sense of belonging that drives much of his work. This piece not only speaks to a personal journey but resonates with anyone who has struggled to claim a place in a wor...
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Writing
Three Book Reviews by Max Fielding
Benjamin Schmitt
1
The ancients shared stories through ears, for them literature was an oral (or aural) tradition spoken to audiences and passed down to each new generation. In modern times stories are mostly shared through the e...
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