Susan Harley: The US needs a ‘Robin Hood Tax’
A tiny Wall Street sales tax could fund huge improvements for the rest of us.
David Kirby: Mandela
When Nelson Mandela was released from prison,
no one had seen him in public since 1962,
so his followers were shocked to see
a stooped old man with white hair
Julia Brown: What is gene editing? How does it work? What are the ethical implications?
With their primary goal to advance scientific knowledge, most scientists are not trained or incentivized to think through the societal implications of the technologies they are developing.
Sally Bliumis-Dunn: Ouija
my palm beneath your palm
along the arc of your pregnant belly
as though my hand were the planchette
on a Ouija board
Stuart Sheppard: Buying Fragments of God | The Crazy Art World of the 1980s
Perhaps the most valuable contributions this memoir offers are the irreverent, yet illuminating, insights regarding specific artists and works.
Charles W. Brice: Twerski
Or did Twerski and the patient
dance, as Hassids do—dance until exhausted by
ecstasy, until the intransigent one, worn out
by serenity, surrendered to sobriety?
Francesca Albanese | UN: Israel’s escalating use of torture against Palestinians in custody a preventable crime against humanity
Torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison are grossly illegal and revolting, but only represent the tip of the iceberg.
Larry Levis: François Villon on the Condition of Pity in Our Time
We’re broken buttons, we’re blown dust.
There’s not one tear left in all of us.
I know, for I am François Villon, murderer
Tom Engelhardt: The Candidate from Hell
As president, he would undoubtedly prove to be a first-class global heat machine and voting for him would be the slow-motion equivalent of putting an atomic weapon in the Oval Office.
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: Some Nights Missing You
like the letter that doesn’t come,
the one I would carefully slit open
and slowly unfold
Olivia Rosane: ‘Is This a Joke?’ Tlaib Blasts Blinken for Geneva Convention Remarks Amid Gaza Carnage
“You supported sending more U.S.-made bombs being used to commit war crimes… How can you say you are for respecting international human rights laws?” Tlaib asked.
Fred Johnston: Ark
She leaned in, my mother, and felt the sleeve
First, then the shoulders, but she left it on its hanger in its own dark
Closed the door as if it were a sacred ark of rules the light might wither
Something I knew she would look at and leave
Lennard J. Davis: Hillbilly Elegy is an example of ‘poornography,’ in which the rich try to speak on behalf of the poor
JD Vance has climbed to his current position as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, in part, by selling himself as a hillbilly, calling on his Appalachian background to bolster … Continue reading
Betsy Sholl: The Word ‘Swan’ on a Slip of Paper Fell from my Pocket
The wind that morning was deliciously wild—
one second the water rippled like black pleats,
the next it was all gust-driven glitter
blowing the ticket right out of my hand
for the swans to trample like a shed feather
