On A Scale of One to Three

by Douglas Lain

Originally published on November 1, 2000

Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements on a scale of one to three where one equals a firm yes, two equals maybe, and three is a firm no.
1. “I sometimes find myself laughing at other people’s misfortunes, even though I’m not very proud of that reaction. Maybe it’s just a [...]

The Hunt for Relics

by Elena Stefoi

Originally published on November 1, 2000

translated by Liana Vrajitoru and Adam J. Sorkin
A hermit’s retreat painfully built
from front cover to back cover
on its threshold magical stratagems stolen from youth
the blizzard when we met
the greed that budded the universe
that summer day along the sea-wall
eternity accompanies you as you set out
from the cathedral tower on the hunt for relics
her cheap game [...]

The Men of Infinite Grace

by Thomas Schabarum

Originally published on November 1, 2000

Thirteen years, the turnstile beds;
him the writer, him the architect, him the dancer,
catching their last breaths, the waning light.
And me sick from all these years
of helpless devotion, the white laundry,
rafts of expectation and lost hope.
I will not wear white again!
Give me blue, red, green, the color
of broken blackberries, anything.
Is there a hand to touch me, [...]

Marilyn Monroe’s Nipples

by Pelle Cass

Originally published on November 1, 2000

The dead star kept them in a cell,
the most precious jewels since dawn.
Each shown ruby on shiny pavement,
rain-soaked and elegant, like Audrey
Hepburn’s lips in The Vault of West Virginia.
They swore they’d be true to me,
but I caught them smoking weed
with Johnny Depp in the lobby
of the Devonshire. Her nipples
could never keep a secret.
You get up [...]

Construction

by Michalle Gould

Originally published on November 1, 2000

Lately, I’ve been dreaming of architecture.
After all, does not architecture hold a mirror to the human condition?
In the shape of the Opera Bastille, a gray hippopotamus idling
along the bank of the Seine, swatting at flies and passersby with its tail,
is there nothing to be said about the French?
Perhaps not, if the architect was [...]

Interstate

by Shann Palmer

Originally published on November 1, 2000

Cars must be driven, controlled
destination not essential to the journey,
sometimes the traveling is the trip.
Hands on the wheel, heart on sleeve,
Burt Bacharach plays, Elvis sings,
piano predictable as road lines.
Even the love songs are bittersweet,
throat-choked resurfaced dreams. Detained
over the next hill, under the pass
a motorcyclist waits out the hard rain,
helmet off, smoking like James Dean.
Catch his [...]

The Rules of Engagement

reviewed by Wendy Kussrow

Originally published on November 1, 2000

Bush is a connoisseur of the extended metaphor, able to plumb the depths of irony and emerge with the bittersweet truth of it unsullied by sarcasm or bitterness…

Jim the Boy

reviewed by Emily Banner

Originally published on November 1, 2000

Earley writes with enviable confidence and laid-back style. His sentences are superbly crafted, full of vivid imagery and well-chosen detail, yet they flow with an easy grace, carrying the reader along…

Practicing for Heaven

reviewed by Rachel Barenblat

Originally published on November 1, 2000

In her best poems, Levine’s images are so clear that they approach benediction.

Lies of the Saints

reviewed by Wendy Dorsel Fisher

Originally published on November 1, 2000

With efficient prose, masterful pacing and dialogue so true and fluid you can almost hear it aloud in the room as you read, McGraw assembles plots as parables, conversation as plainsong…