Books & the Arts

Re: Re:

I said okay okay and then it was altogether right to say all right, I said. Though on the other hand, I said. Just that you understand how this is, I said at least twice. And considering, taking fully into account the matter of could be, soon a might have been, it seems at least partly wise to upend or refigure. Oh second thought! Last minute to relish! Sound of heating duct, printer not printing, my own temporal artery in the nothing they said. Right. Or it was what else I blurted at the table. Something like: I imagine it’s possible though we may need more time, what with and as it happens, whoever and beyond that aren’t there other means to other ways to pledge ourselves one starry planet in the cloud bank? Well, sure, I guess I said then over the quietest perfect falling into place or pieces.

Sep 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Marianne Boruch

‘The Economist’ Has a Slavery Problem ‘The Economist’ Has a Slavery Problem

Multiple commentaries from the journal show a pattern of making sure white people aren’t taken for total villains when discussing slavery.

Sep 9, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Greg Grandin

Three Poems to Get You Through the Drought Three Poems to Get You Through the Drought

"Outside, the ground separates, / breaking open like sores..."

Sep 3, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Richard Kreitner and Back Issues

A Long Series of Uncertainties A Long Series of Uncertainties

Trials and tribulations along the migrant trail from Central America to the United States.

Sep 3, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Adam Goodman

Jokowi’s Way Jokowi’s Way

Can Indonesia’s charismatic new president solve the slow-burning crises of the world’s third-largest democracy?

Sep 3, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Meaney and Saskia Schäfer

Headphones Headphones

The French Revolution vanishes into rain. The cafe where Camille Desmoulins jumped atop the table and roared is closed. So too the one grocery store in the Adirondack town. Three years fade into centuries of raised voices. When I think “of my childhood” what am I thinking? Spiro Agnew’s widow died. Everything a function of stochastic patterns this rain also obeys. Can’t you hear it the unpitched wave soaking the spruce? Can’t you hear them screaming? Morton Feldman said pointing below the Berlin pavement stones. One deafens to live till you’re deafened to all. I’m canceling all the noise my earthened ears bring me.

Sep 3, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Maureen McLane