John Samuel Tieman: As Afternoon Darkens into Evening
the words we didn’t say I take a bite of my lunch silence sour and salt This afternoon I sit on my porch, proud of all I’ve won, thinking of … Continue reading
W. D. Ehrhart: Beautiful Wreckage
In Vietnamese, Con Thien means
place of angels. What if it really was
instead of the place of rotting sandbags,
incoming heavy artillery, rats and mud.
John Samuel Tieman: Of Guns And Our Crazy Neighbor
I teach in Belleville, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis. Belleville is the home of James Hodgkinson, the man who opened fire on congressmen and staffers at a G. O. … Continue reading
Video: Adriano Celentano performs “Prisencolinensinainciusol”
Vox Populi contributing editor John Samuel Tieman says of this video: . I love this song. I first heard it on the TV show Fargo. . Wikipedia says, “The song … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: What to do with the Confederate War Memorial?
Recently my wife and I were in Bentonville, Arkansas. The town square is like the setting of a Sherwood Anderson novel — quaint shops, courthouse. At the center of the … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: What She Meant
Donna Vail died last night. I haven’t heard from her for over forty years. In fact forty-four years ago, when we were young Buddhists and at that temple, Taiseki-ji at … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: A History Lesson
in his war dream someone handed him a strange grenade he was a soldier of some ancient city in a war he didn’t recognize on the horizon artillery flickered like … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: The Red Baron
Perhaps the most memorable character from the First World War is “The Red Baron.” Manfred Von Richthofen died about 11 AM on Sunday, the 21st of April in 1918. There … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: The Fall Of An Khe
I never saw Saigon. In 1970, I was stationed at Camp Radcliff next to the village of An Khe in the Central Highlands. I was assigned to the army’s 4th … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: How To Tell A War Story
I remember the day Senior Drill Sergeant Rose lined us up in squads of eight. It was the first week of Basic Training. “Every single one of you is going … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: A Pebble on a Gravestone
In a rising tide of racism and anti-semitism around the world, vandals toppled and damaged more than 170 headstones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Society cemetery in the St. Louis … Continue reading
Donald Trump: I Hear America Tweeting
I hear America tweeting, the varied tweets I hear, Those of mechanics I never paid, each one tweeting as if I paid them and each one voting for me, The … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Notes on the beginning of a revolution
I had a nightmare last night. Smoke in my house. I’m confused, afraid. I finally find a glow in my basement. I never did see the flames. I call 9-1-1. … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Manifest
Downtown there’s this place across from the Old Courthouse just up from the river a fashionable hotel where the best folks disappear into the evening that’s where the slave pen … Continue reading
