At Brú na Bóinne At Brú na Bóinne
The tumulus—I thought it was a hill at first (trees grow out of one in Sulm)— entered into. It was a clear day, bright, the grass bounded by its hedgerows too green all around and down, the fields’ squares troubled only by the Boyne that just about makes an island of this place snaking through. Sunbeams don’t snake, at least not visibly, though 5,000 years have worked at the Earth’s orbit. Still the light goes in, into the mound through holes one to a side that tunnel towards each other but don’t meet, the sun arriving on time every year unless it’s cloudy. But to do what? Wake the corpse.
May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Elizabeth Arnold
Empire States: On Pankaj Mishra Empire States: On Pankaj Mishra
Why a passionate history of global alternatives to liberal capitalism becomes an exercise in nostalgia.
May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Meaney
Ways of Rebelling Ways of Rebelling
Who needs to be at peace in the world? It helps to be between wars, to die a few times each day to understand your father’s sky, as you take it apart piece by piece and can’t feel anything, can’t feel the tree growing under your feet, the eyes poking night only to find another night to compare it to. Whoever heard of turning pain into hummingbirds or red birds—haven’t we grown? What does it mean to be older? Maybe a house without doors can still survive a storm. Maybe I can’t find the proper way to rebel or damn it, I can’t leave. I want to, but you grow inside of me. And as I watch you, before I know it, I’m too heavy, too full of you to move. Maybe that’s what they meant when they said you shouldn’t love a country too much.
May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Nathalie Handal
Rome’s Cassandra: On George Weigel Rome’s Cassandra: On George Weigel
The neoconservative leading the fight over the legacy of Vatican II in the American Church.
May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Paul Baumann
Suet Suet
It turns out I was killing the birds. I gave them what they wanted, what they craved: suet packed with seeds, hung swinging on the sycamore with chains. Suet brought the downy, the bellied, brought small clinging birds from the sadness of the woods. It fattened them. It readied them for winter. But with spring came the melting world: too rich, too much weakened their bones. And snapped them. You were light as a whisper when you lay on me. I ran my fingers over your chest as though I were dressing you in air—the only clothes I would ever want on you. Still, the mockingbird wants it the most, diving at the other birds, driving them away, his gray black white reel of wings—so fierce, I can’t even take it back. I never knew he would be angry, this bird I’ve heard so much about, sung about in songs, the one I was supposed to buy my baby, the one who learned my baby’s cries. There’s sun on the porch and I want you so bad I think I might die. I have hurt you harder than anyone has ever. I don’t know what is right. I don’t know whose turn it is to beg, to cry, to be wronged, to be wanted. All I know is when you lay down on me, I felt no weight. And when you touched my breasts, they began to weep. And when I said I was sorry, sorry, I am so so sorry, you lowered your head to my chest and drank.
May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Alison Stine
Deliriums and Descents Deliriums and Descents
In Metaphysical Dog, a poet continues his unending, obsessive arguments with himself.
May 15, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Robert Boyers
Mad About the IRS Mess? Blame Congress Mad About the IRS Mess? Blame Congress
It’s absurd to expect agency auditors to sort out confusing, outdated campaign finance laws and regulations.
May 15, 2013 / The Editors
Make a Difference for Domestic Workers Make a Difference for Domestic Workers
Both the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Domestic Workers United are campaigning for legislation protecting domestic workers in each state nationwide...
May 15, 2013 / NationAction
Chris Christie, a GOP Moderate? Fuhgeddaboudit! Chris Christie, a GOP Moderate? Fuhgeddaboudit!
The governor needs to peddle a moderate image to win re-election in New Jersey, but on everything from reproductive rights to the environment to austerity, he’s very conserva...
May 15, 2013 / John Nichols
Noted Noted
Aura Bogado on deportations before immigration reform, Greg Mitchell on the Department of Justice and the AP, the editors on advertising legend George Lois
May 15, 2013 / Various Contributors