Gold Bar Night
Jonathan Shaw
Went to the Gold Bar with the gringo but he wasn't feeling it. No speeky spany. I spotted my little firework girl from Saturday night among the blinking Christmas lights and tacky plastic decorations. We were about to go ...
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Essay
Beer Mystic Burp #2: Spilling Beer
bart plantenga
Su Byron Spilling Beer: Late at night Su Byron and I would walk back from whatever disaster, like in Fanelli’s where things happened or didn’t. On the way home – each our own hovel with beds where the sheets no longer ...
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Davy Jones' Locker
Jonathan Shaw
Journal Entry, Buenos Aires.
The innocence of the lambs, the shattered glass in voices, the screams of anger and dizzy despair behind the words. Dragons and demons behind the terror and joy, the hot dog goes down, spirit...
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NEW
A Portrait of America in Trash
Jose Padua
I give to you a portrait of America in trash.
I give it to you with love and respect, America:
mountains of beer cans crumpled, plastic figures
with fallen action, black velvet portraits of Elvis
with...
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NEW
THE RAPTURE: JUST ANOTHER PR HYPE FOR CHRISTIAN GUILT? Or, God’s away on business.
Bonny Finberg
6:30 PM THE END OF THE WORLD -- late by 1/2 hour. God either overslept or isn’t really interested. A pint of cold beer on a rooftop terrace overlooking the canal, uninterrupted. Animated, bare-chested men sit in the s...
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Casino in Joliet; or, getting old in the usa
Emily XYZ
This is a piece that first came to me in probably 2003, when I was living in Evanston IL, not too far from Joliet. I heard someone say , "we're going to a casino in Joliet," and it just lit up something in my mind. This is...
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NEW
AFROSURREAL MANIFESTO: Black is the new black — a 21st century
D. Scot Miller
AFROSURREAL
D. Scot Miller
I'm not a surrealist. I just paint what I see. — Frida Kahlo
THE PAST AND THE PRELUDE
In his introduction to the classic novel Invisible Man (1952), ambiguous black and literary icon Ralp...
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NEW
Democracy in America
Jose Padua
If Connie is short for Constance is Bon-
nie then short for Bonstance? Was the proper
name, then, of the bank robbing team of the
3...
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Strings in the Key of Q
Jane Does
On the subway, someone’s phone begins to ring, or they are watching something on a tiny screen, and a strain of violin music wafts across the seat back and up into my ear. This music, alone, fits; it has a narrative author...
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NEW
I FEEL STUPID AND CONTAGIOUS
Excerpt from "Kali's Day."
Stella
“Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello...pass that, will you?”
I fake inhale, not sure what’s supposed to happen now. This wack crowd of question marks, the total opposite of the void, ready to spend the rest of my life ...
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Murda Muzik #1 – The Gravediggaz
Michael Gonzales
As a young film buff growing-up in New York back in the days, I first got into movie soundtracks through the James Bond themes. Composed by John Barry and sung by various pop idols (Tom Jones! Shirley Bassey! Paul McCartne...
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Essay
Beer Mystic Burp #1
bart plantenga
BEER MYSTIC Burp #1: Beyond the 12 Ounces of Craft
The Internet and the world at large currently host plenty of hopsonian enthusiasts, beer nuts, pils pushers, literally hundreds of sites like RateBeer and Facebook pages l...
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Essay
Looking Back at the South Bronx
City Of Strangers
Photo by straatis
I've been to the South Bronx, exactly once, in 1991. In those days I used to walk all over the city, into areas that I wouldn't go now. I was young, possibly a little naive (or possibly not) and figur...
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TOOLS FOR STALKERS & HATERS: The Honesty Box, Brought 2 U By FB
Bonny Finberg
TOOLS FOR STALKERS & HATERS:
The Honesty Box, Brought 2 U By FB
Sometimes, while surfing the web, I discover things by accident. Web surfing for me is never something I set out to do on purpose. I don’t sit down at my ...
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Paved With Good Intentions
Ron Kolm
We’ve just left
Your best friend’s house
And so far
It’s been a pretty good day.
“Hey, I think your buddy
Has the hots for me,” I joke.
Out of the corner of my eye
I see you pop open
The glove compartme...
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