Philippe Labro: The Rule of Engagement
The Rule of Engagement, along with the coat and tie dress code, was one of the university’s two unbreakable traditions. It involved saying “Hi!” to everyone you encountered, or – if that person were first to greet you – responding in kind. I was taken aback at first, not so much by the idea of saying hello to a stranger crossing campus, but by the mindset that required me to say it, and say it, and say it again, all day long, no matter my mood and no matter who it was coming up alongside me.
Denise Duhamel: Ego
I just didn’t get it— even with the teacher holding an orange (the earth) in one hand and a lemon (the moon) in the other, her favorite student (the sun) … Continue reading
Erma Bombeck: Housework Can Kill You If Done Right
I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage.
Allen Stein: Contact Trace
they’d determined that he’d picked up the Covid
while getting fitted for tortoiseshell bifocals
to replace the pair his puppy had chewed
Jose Padua: Ten Sonnets for Electric Motherfuckers — The Second Decad
Karen, call the cops, he’s waiting by the curb
reading Colson Whitehead’s least popular book, I can smell him from
here, he’s wearing Pakistani musk, furrowing his frou frou eyebrows…
David Rivard: Maria’s Yellow Coat
a sun that floats the way
Maria’s knitted newsboy cap did once,
just above the horizon
Elizabeth Romero: Happiness
I live in a pink truck at the edge of the sky.
Abby Zimet: ReAwakening To Insect Burgers, Deep-State Trash, Globalist Predators and Demonic Satellites, Praise God
We regret to inform you that a bewilderingly sizeable segment of our country has mutated into a horde of racist, crackpot, paranoid, Covid-denying, demon-obsessed, anti-trans-and-illuminati-and-quantum-physics “Army of God” warriors…
Jose Padua: What I’m Reading
History is layered, full of bones and ghosts, herself a storm of beau- tiful, frightening talent.
Video: Stella Young | I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much
In this very funny talk, Stella Young breaks down society’s habit of turning disabled people into “inspiration porn.”
Video: The Beetle at the End of the Street
In this Fellini-esque comedy, a psychic fishmonger foresees Amadeo’s death, so his fellow villagers rally to give him the best final seven days for which one could ask.
John O’Keefe: Amo, Amas
Amo, Amas, I love a lass
As a cedar tall and slender;
Sweet cowslip’s grace is her nominative case,
And she’s of the feminine gender.
John Balaban: Two Poems
Three men dancing. Not drunk, just immensely amused
knowing that soon enough there would be only the wind
shushing its sad music along an empty shore.
Vox Populi 