Story
Maupin Row
Ron Kolm
We were totally unprepared for the winter of 1968; it was bleak and cold, and it seemed to last forever. My wife and I were from the North -- Reading, Pennsylvania -- and we had joined a government program to help organize ...
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Art
Balloons, Beads
John Farris
“What you gonna be when you blow up? I bet you gonna be a balloon…kee kee kee!” That was Willie T’s salutation these days -- delivered with an eye-rolling guffaw registering satisfaction with his cho...
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Poem
Bananas
Eddie Woods
The poem "Bananas" is a true story. I was flat broke in Hong Kong, strolling along Kowloon's Nathan Road vaguely wondering how to pay my rent. But also thinking poems. Suddenly this stunning black GI on R&R from Vietnam stop...
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Poem
Vain Endeavor & other poems
Dan Sofaer
Vain Endeavor
It was a vain endeavor.
All the plants and leaves
Took pity on it as it
Hung out in the wind.
Princesses noticed its
Ridiculous asinine shadow
As it hung out there torn
For a moment and said
Poor, po...
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Essay
The Sinners & other great Latin garage rock bands
Bernard Meisler
So after watching Simon of the Desert last week, and being blown away by what is perhaps the most ridiculous (or sublime?) ending to any film ever made, I did my research and figured out the name of the band - The Sinners. ...
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Essay
Inception Antidote – Luis Buñuel’s "Simon of the Desert"
Bernard Meisler
I hate to write a negative review of anything - what's the point, really? - and I don't want to rain on anyone's parade who might have enjoyed it - but I hated Inception. I mean, I didn't just not like it, it made me angry. ...
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Poem
Motor City is Not My Home
Emily XYZ
Motor city is not my home / but I love it just the same
Murder city, kill city ok but that’s just one way
to look at the place where so much comes from
and I know GM should have been allowed to fall but for all
the goo...
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Story
Merthiolate (and Other Futile Antiseptics)
Robert C. Hardin
Merthiolate
After failing to kill myself for the eighteenth time, I decided to be more positive. Why focus on failure? I thought. Why not appreciate the character added by damage to my once-perfect body? But despite the p...
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Story
Night Train Heading South
Christian X. Hunter
Excerpts from A Fistful Of Rupees
There is a train to Dharmavaram at 5:00 for fifty-seven rupees. That allows about fourteen minutes buy a platform ticket, retrieve my pack from left luggage, buy some food and find the trai...
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Story
That’s Entertainment – Chapter One
B. Kold
Aliens do exist, but humans should try to avoid any contact with them
- Stephen Hawking
You’re fired.
- Donald Trump
New York City: The Near Future
Vion Sandor was cold. Everybody else on line was cold too, but th...
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Essay
Dennis Hopper – Outlaw Artist
Bernard Meisler
I've wanted to pay tribute to the great Dennis Hopper, one of my all-time outlaw artist heroes, since he passed May 29th. I'm not gonna say much, but I'll pass along a few tidbits of info that perhaps you weren't familiar ...
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Tuli Kupferberg, RIP
The Editors
Another great shuffles off this mortal coil. Here's a gem from the '60s.
https://youtu.be/2mQJSxX5sGg
Tuli would sometimes (a lot?) show up at the Unbearables readings. I remember him singing "Slum Goddess" like it w...
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Classics
Georges Bataille : Literature And Evil
The Editors
This is a fascinating interview with Georges Batailles from 1958, regarding his essay, La Littérature et le Mal (hat tip, Rob Hardin). Some of the high points include the statements that all literature is essentially evil, ...
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Classics
Charles Bukowski – The Night I Killed Tommy
Charles Bukowski
Everyone in NY is dying of heat; everyone in SF is complaining that it's too damn cold. I don't know, it just feels like one of those Charles Bukowski days...
This one's called, "The Night I Killed Tommy". The video's old...
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Poem
Emily XYZ & Myers Bartlett – Frank Sinatra
Emily XYZ
We'll be presenting a poem from Emily XYZ in issue 2. In the meantime, enjoy this piece, "Frank Sinatra," from Emily and Myers Bartlett, performed at the Cornelia Street Cafe in New York City, November 14, 2008.
https:/...
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