A Nothing Would Do As Well
The first time I met Mad Dog, he nearly shot me with a hepatitis C-infected blowgun dart. More
My Own Private Normandy
I saw a cross that was different from any of the others. It did not give a city, or a name, or a date; it said only, “Here rests… More
The Humbug
"The Philosophy of Composition” is a lovely little essay, but, as Poe himself admitted, it’s a bit of jiggery-pokery, too. More
Wallace Stevens in the World
At some point in the proceedings one of the more advanced of us got out the volume of Wallace Stevens’s Collected Poems in its handsome soft blue dust jacket… More
Solitary Confinement in California
Most people will never experience, and never really know what it is like to be isolated for many uninterrupted years. But it's like being locked in a trunk of… More
Grandmother Power!
Paola Gianturco's moving book Grandmother Power profiles grandmother activists in 15 countries on five continents about their human rights work. In this chilling excerpt, we learn how grandmothers in… More
Photocopies of Photocopies: On Bao Ninh
Bao Ninh, now living in Hanoi, became a novelist in the second half of his life. Until the age of forty, he served in the North Vietnamese Army, fighting… More
That’s the Way It Is in Prison
Murf the Surf and I are walking in the rain past the steam plant heading back to the Southwest Unit. The chapel is off to our left, separated from… More
I Hear The Train Comin…
Although I’m sure the world outside these prison walls is likely to forget and ignore the human beings banished to these small plots of land, to be abandoned by… More
Laying Roots
I wake from my sleep stiff and groggy. When I try to lift my head, it feels heavy, too heavy. My neck is sore. I lay flat on my… More
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