Writing
Praise Song for Today
Jose Padua
Praise Song for Today
I am writing in praise of sloth, in praise
of doing nothing and by nothing I don’t
mean watching television or sleeping,
I mean doing nothing: no moving about
the house with your arms hanging l...
More...
Poem
Passion and Materialism
Jim Feast
Passion and Materialism
As I walk, pushing
through the flood of the crowd,
awash under the breakneck
pull of the Flushing stores; the racial
mixture, muddy colored, vibrant, mulatto,
trying to remember her face ...
More...
Poem
Dog Daze of Summer
Patricia Carragon
Dog Daze of Summer
These are the Dog Daze of Summer
it’s time to go to work!
Leave by half past eight
and the tin can snake is late again
doing its snail’s waltz on rails.
Play Solitaire in your head,
waste...
More...
Poem
The Fear
Thaddeus Rutkowski
THE FEAR
I have the fear,
But I’m not running around, yelling,
“I have the fear!”
It is a quiet fear
centered in the pit of my stomach.
Sometimes it bubbles up
when I remember who caused the fear
(it was no...
More...
Review
Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones
John Weed
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the greatest rock ’n' roll band in the world, the Rolling Stones!” So start about half a dozen Stones bootlegs I own. I always cringe ever so slightly every time I hear it. Although I believe it�...
More...
Writing
The Logger’s Lament
Jay Frankston
Yesterday’s Hero
"I was 12 years old when I got my first axe. Fifteen when I got my first chain saw. I was young, and strong, and proud. My father took me into the woods with him and showed me how we could ...
More...
Music
New Monsters – Point Cloud – Brand-New Release
New Monsters
Point Cloud is the latest release from the New Monsters. Their third outing takes the listener on a fantastic voyage to the edge of jazz space—influenced by and in homage to the great Eric Dolphy. Point Cloud feature...
More...
Essay
Some Reflections on Bertolt Brecht, on the Occasion of the 119th Anniversary of His Birth
Franklin Mount
Some Reflections on Bertolt Brecht, on the Occasion of the 119th Anniversary of His Birth
“Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.”
“Unglücklich das Land, das Helden nötig hat.” - Leben des Galilei, scene 1...
More...
Poem
The Day After
Puma Perl
The Day After
My messages
all sound the same.
I’m sick
I can’t believe it
I’m crying
I don’t know what to do
All of us caught,
unprepared, unarmed.
Yesterday,
I deliberated for hours,
trying to cho...
More...
Review
The 10 Best Chinese and Korean Films of 2016
Jim Feast
Here's my list of the 10 best Chinese/Korean films of 2016, in no particular order. Enjoy!
1) Saving Mr. Wu (dir. Ding Sheng)
This is a terrifically gritty thriller about a movie star (Andy Lau) kidnapped out...
More...
Poem
The Elephant’s Tale
Maggie Dubris
THE ELEPHANT’S TALE
An excerpt from BrokeDown Palace
But what was it like, really?
Those wild west, blow-your-head-out times that everyone wishes they were a part of.
Like a pot, like a plow
"There was hero...
More...
Poem
A Glance Like Flashing Lightning
Marc Olmsted
"Homage! Tara, swift, heroic!" - Chapter III, Tara Tantra
Facebook cyber-chat filled with bad
news and petitions
My answer to depression is
sleep and caffeine, whichever works first
Still. I shake off the blue...
More...
Classics
The Twilight of Freedom, a poem by Osip Mandelstam
Jenny Wade
Let us praise, brothers, freedom’s twilight,
The great diminishing year!
A heavy forest of nets is lowered
Into the turbulent waters of night.
You are ascending in desolate years,
Oh sun, judge, people.
Let us prai...
More...
Review
Sensitive Skin Contributors 2016 Favorites – Books, Movies, TV, Art, Performance and Music – Reasons to Live
The Editors
Before we get on to the 2016 Favorites, first things first, I need to get this off my chest: Hey 2016 - go suck a bag of d***s, will ya?
OK, and now, without further ado, presented without rhyme or reason, here's our annu...
More...