Scorched Maps
Scorched MapsI took a trip to Ukraine. It was June.I waded in the fields, all full of dustand pollen in the air. I searched, but thoseI loved had disappeared… More
Stars are shredding machines and From my mother’s sleep
I talk to who I want. Guten Tag Herr Gutenberg. The invention of movable type was inspired by his close observation of clouds, how when you look away they rearrange themselves in… More
Being Saïd
On a stage in New York, a Director, an Actor, and an Actress are struggling to finish a play written by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh.Director: (Addressing the audience.) Ladies and gentlemen,… More
Save Me from the Pious and the Vengeful
for Joe Wood 1965-1999Out of nothing comes language and out of language comes nothing and everything. Everything challenges the tenuous world order. Every emotion derails every other one. One… More
Seven Small Apocalypses
Night and DayI drive by a motel when I need anything from the other side of town. Town’s built like an hourglass, and there’s a big lit sun shining… More
Rosie’s Bridegroom
The wedding guests look upon the cracked, pink lips of Rosie’s bridegroom. They look at Rosie’s own lips, which owe their reddish pinkness to artifice, they think, and not… More
Revolution et literature
I spotted Professor Youssef sitting at his usual table. That lazy, pretentious, Algerian pseudo-French intellectual always dresses up in gabardine suits with the same thin tie that had its… More
The Nurse and the Novelist
1. The ButterflyThe entire book is set in two columns. The narrower one is in italics. It tells a story of a village woman who falls in love with… More
Wayward Surmises
Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests offerthe pleasure of compulsive organization(I’m writing five words perline): pleasure of dividing attentivenessinto constituent bits: sadistic pleasureof forcing others (viewers, subjects)to do your bidding: refusenikpleasure… More
Realist Fiction
Last night, in a biker bar, I overheard two men discussing what distinguished “realist” fiction from more “experimental” work. Although one shouldn’t generalize, I never expect bikers to be… More
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