Joan E. Bauer: They Left Chicago Behind
Saul Bellow called Chicago: a prairie city with a waterfront
& the trees he remembers, elms & cottonwoods.
Video: Safe
On a winter night in Atlantic City, the manager of a defunct casino must reckon with his parental failures when his unruly son needs help out of an illicit bind.
Tony Magistrale: Thinking about Brueghel on a Sunday Afternoon
Despite the ice-bound world outside my own winter window,
how much colder it appears there
in the teal-tinted landscapes they inhabit.
Anonymous: I Get By With a Little Help From Depends
Some of the artists of the ’60s are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers.
Barbara Hamby: Elvis and Tolstoy Save the World
I am standing in line waiting for the bus to take me
across the street to Graceland when Tolstoy shows up
with his white beard and peasant’s garb
The Ancient Icelandic Saga Voluspo: “The Wise-Woman’s Prophecy”
Fast move the sons | of Mim, and fate
Is heard in the note | of the Gjallarhorn;
Loud blows Heimdall, | the horn is aloft,
In fear quake all | who on Hel-roads are
Thomas Bulfinch: Simonides
On one occasion, when the poet was residing at the court of Scopas, king of Thessaly, the prince desired Simonides to prepare a poem in celebration of his exploits, to be recited at a banquet.
Parichehr Kazemi: How female Iranian activists use powerful images to protest oppressive policies
Images of unveiled Iranian women and adolescent girls standing atop police cars or flipping off the ayatollah’s picture have become signature demonstrations of dissent in the past few months of protest in Iran.
Michael T. Young: The Spoils of War
A little girl grips the one toy she was
allowed to carry away through crowds
stumbling together from their homes.
Video: Dan Harris | The Benefits Of Not Being A Jerk To Yourself
After more than two decades as an anchor for ABC News, an on-air panic attack sent Dan Harris’s life in a new direction: he became a dedicated meditator and, to some, even a guru. But then an anonymous survey of his family, friends and colleagues turned up some brutal feedback — he was still kind of a jerk.
Arlene Weiner: My Desk Chair
Female, useful, you keep your dignity though your lap’s full of odd socks, haphazard mending. You were old sixty years ago, dressed in Goodwill’s sad maroon stain, scarred with nailholes … Continue reading
Vox Populi: The 15 most popular posts of 2022
During 2022, Vox Populi published 737 posts including poetry, essays and short films. Here are the fifteen most visited.
David Kirby: The Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart
I’m wondering if, as I walk by later when the shadows are long,
will their white faces be like stars against their black habits
Andy Kroll: Lessons Learned in the Internet’s Darkest Corners
This technology exerts such a powerful pull on our psychology and our identity, and is so pervasive in our lives, that it changes how we think, behave, and relate to one another. The effect, multiplied across billions of users, has been to change society itself.
