Two Poems by Meschonnic

Two Poems by Meschonnic

a lineis only asentence that stops then anotherlife rhymeswith lifewe are all living rhymeswho look tofinish their sentencesthere is noend ofspeakingmaybe without knowing itwe are…

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The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

Book Review

Nothing distinguishes a human being from other creatures (including other humans themselves) like memory. Each of us are unique in our experiences and their associated…

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Still the ‘A’ Train

Still the ‘A’ Train

Not too many memories here, in these chic walls caught in the daily grind. But between the walls there are those truths—whistling through the subway…

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This is how we kill an Artist

This is how we kill an Artist

“The artist’s life is romantic to everyone but him.” An Artist is Born It begins, or ends like this: one day you’re in the back…

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Frangipani behind the Ear

Frangipani behind the Ear

We return to the Grand Pacific Hotelin Suva, Fiji, but it is not the way it was or what we thought it was:the cold lobster almost…

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Keep Her Out of the Tent

Keep Her Out of the Tent

There’s a temporary campground, with a tent,billowing-white, just off Sprague Ave. in Tacoma. Keep your daughter home.  Make popcorn with salt,buttery-warm. Let her watch the…

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Retreat

Retreat

The tiny cottage in the woods is abandoneduntil the woman whose husband drinkstakes refuge thereafter a bender,without regret.The woman loves her husband,and this is how…

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Between the Numinous and Me

Between the Numinous and Me

Every author gets asked—cornered, perhaps—to say succinctly: What’s your book about? Two ex-cons murder a family of four in Kansas and, after the crime and…

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Contours of Affection

Contours of Affection

A pedicure is an archaeological expedition, if those feet belong to your mother.   A part of this country was your beginning of history.  A faded…

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The Mosque

The Mosque

“You shouldn’t wear red. It’s not slimming. You need dark colors to minimize your weight. Are you listening to me?” Margie walked away from Vivian’s…

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Pretty

Pretty

Kyle used to be pretty. He used to stop them in their tracks. He pretended he didn’t notice how mouths hung open and brains whirred…

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Apprenticeship, Oil with China Bristle Brush: "Landscape avec des Moutons" #5

Apprenticeship, Oil with China Bristle Brush: “Landscape avec des Moutons” #5

(Rosa Bonheur, Rue des Tournelles, Paris 1836)  My easel billetedbetween stove and painting chest,Most mornings Papa teachesat an atelier for young ladies,later portrait sittings–a  Portuguesefactory…

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57 Ways to Talk About Your Time

57 Ways to Talk About Your Time

You did not want it. When it came you’d have to enter that veiled, silent place where the women lived, and the things you loved—the…

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The Mistaken Time Traveller (circa 2010)

The Mistaken Time Traveller (circa 2010)

I set the time coordinates for May, the year 2020, ten years from now,I made the jump but, much to my dismay, to a parallel…

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E-Love

E-Love

What you seek is seeking you, Sara reads, a languid smile on her 26-year-old lips as she flips through a faded blue notebook and pauses,…

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