131 April, 2008

"Sand Storm" by Jennifer Flynn - © 2007

Sand Storm

person_pin Essay

An Evening with William Burroughs

Issue No. 131 ~ April, 2008

We all got up to leave, and immediately someone was reaching for Burroughs' coat, while someone else went for his hat. After one person had helped him put on his coat and another had given him his hat, he turned to me and said with a wry smile, "Around here, I'm known as 'The Don'."

perm_identity From the Editor

Another chance encounter

Issue No. 131 ~ April, 2008

It turned out that Ann and her husband Dan Becker, own Becker's Books, where dark, sturdy bookcases can be found along over 30 corridors of shelving. Ann said the operation currently has a stock of 250,000 or so titles of used books ready to go.

book Book Lovers

Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese

Issue No. 131 ~ April, 2008

It's a crazy but credible universe Freese has created. Every story glistens with bitter truths, edgy truths about twisted human relationships, lack of love, the inexplicable lives we live. Each says maybe you haven't experienced life this way, but many others have–it is their truth and one day you might know what it means to live a shadow figure yourself.

Ancestor Worship by Michael S. Begnal

Issue No. 131 ~ April, 2008

Begnal's latest collection, Ancestor Worship, is a remarkable for its moody details. In "Beautiful People," "Dead bird blown down the road / as light as its feathers," is a dazzling, fitting inchoate for a poem that ends with the provocative line "the knife dripping with juice." Like Ginsberg, Begnal realizes a poem must provoke.

view_column Guest Column

portrait One on One

Afaa Michael Weaver

Issue No. 131 ~ April, 2008

"When I think of sociologists who aspire to be writers, I think of W.E.B. DuBois, whose prose was quite good as we all know. But he was not a poet or a novelist. One day, I hope These Hands I Know will be recognized for what it is, an excellent primary source for people such as sociologists. The book gives a view to the effects of racism on black family life and the effects of child abuse."

Richard Goodman

Issue No. 131 ~ April, 2008

"People I respect very much have liked the book. I sent two chapters to M.F.K. Fisher before she died, and she wrote me back a marvelous letter telling me she liked the writing very much. She said that she didn't like 99% of what had been written about Provence...'But Richard, you have broken the spell'."

pages Micro-Fiction

Kept

Issue No. 131 ~ April, 2008

She had skipped her biology lecture to let the man shave her legs and then have sex with her in the Jacuzzi tub. When he came, he bit down hard on her left shoulder, and afterward, she studied the indentations his teeth left in her skin while he dressed. Whether or not they were at his home, he always dressed as soon as they finished.

local_library Poetry