Blog

Filter By:

AdvocacyAnalysisBlogCommentaryDramaEssayEventFeatureFictionGraphic NarrativeInterviewMemoirNewsObituaryOpen LetterPoetryPress ReleaseProfile

Browse By Series:

PEN Poetry Series •  Prison WritingThe PEN Ten InterviewsIllustrated PEN • Pen PalsThe PEN World

Browse By Email Subscription:

PEN America NewsEducational Censorship NewsWorks of Justice 

A Whale Hunting Heritage

I am a resident of Barrow, Alaska; a whale hunting community on the northern most tip of Alaska. I was born and raised in Barrow with an unyielding urge… More

No Pain

“They who go - feel not the pain of parting; it is they who stay behind that suffer.”--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Michael Angelo”My eyes shot open and I instinctively braced myself for… More

The Well

“To lust,” he said, saluting me. His fingers trembled as he lifted the paper cups to his lips. Some of the water trickled down his chin.“Ah, lust,” I said,… More

The Role of the Droll Troll

Once upon a time, in the Land of Continuity, there lived a monster of sorts. All the people indigenous to this kingdom knew this alleged creature of the underworld… More

My Banned Books

Back in the 1970's I wrote a couple of what used to be known as “middle age” novels that were banned in Texas and in West Virginia. They were… More

Reductio ad absurdum

i kissed you from the door to the bedfrom the bed to the bathroom from the bathroomto the kitchen and in the morningyour panties in the refrigerator your stockings in the potyour shoes… More

The Wall Keeper

The Wall KeeperNo one tries to sell me tickets to the Olympics;They know I can’t go.The guard in the towerBegs me to climb the wallSo he could shoot me… More