Poem
CBGBs
Ron Kolm
I worked in the Strand bookstore
with Tom Verlaine.
He invited me
to CBGBs the first time his band,
Television, played there.
Punk was born that night.
I ended up getting into a fight
with my date
and we left
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Poem
THE END OF THE WORLD
Peter Dolack
We interrupt this program to bring you this special bulletin
Two automated observatories inside the orbit of Mercury
Have now confirmed the news
The Sun is going nova
All life on Earth will be extinguished in eight minut...
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Review
Jacket Weather by Mike DeCapite – Review
Greg Masters
JACKET WEATHER
Mike DeCapite
Soft Skull Press, New York City, 2021, 258 pages, $16.95
Senses attuned walking through the city: the crispness of the sounds, the grittiness of the incongruous assembly of buildings and storefronts, the light effects, the pedestrians mired in their moment, even the smells; plugged into the cacophony for the solo passage through the grid, each element contributing to a choral totality that in Mike DeCapite's hand streams forth like clear whitewater, without decoration, without a superfluous syllable.
In fact, a strong, residual effect of this novel comes from what is not present. Not to give away too much, but the narrative is on its own track, so far away from mainstream formula. The delight of not being absorbed into what most art douses us with every day results in a therapeutic wash. How can a book be so full of love without irony or conflict? He does it.
While there is story-telling going...
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Poem
Lost & Found
Valery Oisteanu
A chandelier of clouds twists over the mountains
Signaling the launch of the morning
But that will not end my dreams
Which refuse to stop the apocalyptic nightmare
The invisible reality lies undetected by the senses
L...
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Essay
ALLEN GINSBERG, BUDDHA’S FOOTPRINT, AND THREE FISH WITH ONE HEAD
Marc Olmsted
If you've read Allen Ginsberg, you probably know the image - three fish, one head as a sort of triangular Illuminati eye. Allen saw it in Bodhgaya in 1962, carved into a representation of Buddha's footprint, itself huge and...
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Comics
The Hole on the Roof of My Mouth
Daisy Meisler
–Daisy Meisler
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Poem
What Passed for Love Those Days
C.O. Moed
Fall-down drunk that he was
you pumped O’Grady’s cock
from desperate semi-soft into hard
from hope into love
Eventually, eventually
And then finally
Took you years
in church basements on folding chairs
...
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Essay
Gonzo Ecology: A Surprisingly Green Hunter S. Thompson
David S. Wills
When we think of Hunter S. Thompson, many ideas may spring to mind, from drugs and guns to hyperbole and brutal political satire. On those rare occasions that his work is given serious consideration, we acknowledge obvious t...
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Story
Darth Trip
Marc Olmsted
“New York is a head without a body. California is a body without a head.” - Vincent Zangrillo
“You sound like a cowboy, only intelligent.” - Vinny’s friend to me
Return of the Jedi wasn’t really any go...
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Poem
The Concert and other poems
Robert Kramer
The Concert
You recall that certain moment during the concert
at the lakeside spa where Kafka once had stayed,
in the mountains north of Prague,
when--after the voluptuous melancholy
of a sentimental Viennese waltz--
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Music
I Want To Exist
Doctor Stupid
I WANT TO EXIST is the long-awaited, brand-new EP from the mysterious Doctor Stupid (not a medical doctor, but they have a PhD in Stupid). Not much is known about them, other than that they are a singer/songwriter/musician a...
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Story
Christmas in the Heart of Dixie
Patrick O'Neil
It’s hard to find a vein when you’re driving. It’s even harder to find a vein when you no longer have any. Shit, my veins used to stand out like well-torqued E strings. I could just feel around with my fingers. You kno...
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Story
Parisian Literary Imposter
bart plantenga
Luke discovered Sophie’s latest map, “LUKE’S BRAIN – XXX DESIRES & FANTASYS & BEAUCOUP DE RIEN,” taped to the perfectly fine desklamp he’d rescued from the street. Sophie hated that lamp, the kink in its aluminum...
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Story
Togetherness
J. Boyett
On Christmas morning of 2020, in Morrilton, Arkansas, enough hatred was exerted in the living room of David and Nancy Dunbar, and in a focused enough manner, to raise a Krzllgian Fleshbeast and zap the whole family into its ...
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Poem
The Beat Goes On
Ron Kolm
It was a slow night in the bookstore
so I went over to the literature section
and grabbed a copy of Celine's
Death on the Installment Plan
and took it back to my post
at the cash register.
I hid it under the counter
...
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