Lauren Camp: Still Life with Extinctions
Almost no one else heard it, the bitch, bitch thrown from the line next to me. It was Thursday, and the voice offered its etceteras without saying much else. But what … Continue reading
Robert Walicki: If a Tree Falls
A tree falls does anyone care if it makes it into this poem? A poem bone deep and raw, broken into bark and hanging on to the edge of a … Continue reading
Jay Carson: Luminary
Just in case you think I got screwed up only recently, let me tell you about the fire: My wife in those days was a candle maker as well as … Continue reading
Kate Daniels: Detox
So she wouldn’t judge, she practiced empathy, sitting for months in full lotus, palms open, thumb and forefinger touching to make a small circle she could empty her thoughts inside … Continue reading
Michael Winship: Brett Kavanaugh, the All-American Privileged Boy
His was not a judicial temperament. It was the unhinged ranting of a right-wing ideologue who should not be allowed to serve as an associate justice of SCOTUS. Thursday’s Senate … Continue reading
Kate Daniels: At the Meetings They Say, “Detach with Love”
When the alcoholic fell before reaching The bed, and pissed his pants before Passing out, and shat himself, and puked Up what was left of lunch, and just lay there … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Binge
War comes to visit me once a day. I can’t get rid of him. He’s grown old and hates himself. I stopped a quarter century ago, but he still drinks … Continue reading
Elizabeth Kirschner: Bright as Guilt
Under the shadow of death, I drank my entire language, sucked the bones out of my hands. I drank until my bone marrow pickled and my eyes, their lids, turned … Continue reading
Susan Cheever: The Real Bill W.
Almost 50 years after his death, the AA founder’s complicated life is more instructive than ever in an increasingly tumultuous world. Bill Wilson was no saint. He smoked like a … Continue reading
Molly Fisk: Dark Rum & Tonic
Sometimes what you need is a road house, blast of laughter and warm air pouring out the door, where the waitresses know your name but the customers don’t, shrill on … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Wounded Antelope of the Herd
Some Thoughts on Brock Turner, Drinking, and Rape I was 18, waking up on the dorm hallway floor. Mary Beth, the upperclassman who woke me to get dressed for work, … Continue reading
Video: Ironweed (Complete feature-length film)
Ironweed. Directed by Hector Babanco. Starring Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Carroll Baker, Michael O’Keefe, Diane Venora, Tom Waits, Fred Gynne. Written by Tom Bender and William Kennedy. Released in 1987. Running time: 2:23:03. … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Eulogy
When I was nineteen and the drummer in the show band that backed you, you took me to your bed. I had been speechless in your presence: your honey whiskey … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Tucson, 1970
I remember standing in a long line being processed into jail. Guy behind me is furious: they’ve handcuffed him to a transvestite who is smiling at his discomfort. They put … Continue reading
