Issue Highlights

One Child to Raze a Village
When one individual—armed only with inalienable rights and a book of matches—can set fire to half of California, the necessity for round-the-clock, one-on-one surveillance becomes all-too clear. Norman Ball Watches the Watchers.

Cruel Poetry
"Alligators eat severed body parts. The sex—and roaches— are heavy and constant. The air is brutal; the blood is bad. The heroine is a prostitute." Ryn on Hendricks' new noir novel.

Suffering The Gipper Legacy
Reagan is so revered that few are willing to question his legacy. But there is no better time to revisit the history of Ronald Reagan than the beginning of the 21st century, as we begin to suffer the full consequences of his policies and the revolution that bears his name. Mike Z explains!

Double Time
"A Washington, D.C., bank robbery goes hilariously wrong and sets three unlikely people on a cross-country journey that redefines each character’s life.  Billy T. Pickle, first time bank robber and jilted husband, plans the caper to impress his spoiled and cheating wife." Harrison takes on Cogan's latest.

A Savage Struggle Between Relatives
What one sees on stage is a savage struggle between relatives to assert their egos at the expense of the others, to gain small advantages and to jar the others into recognizing each other’s existence ... Joseph Bertolini investigates Pinter, Hobbes, and American foreign policy.

The Animal Girl
"The characters' struggles, though often uncomfortably awkward, are tempered by—if not exactly patience—then by a fortitude and persistence that comes only with age and experience." Paula Kolek shows us how John Fulton has grown up.

Color Tyranny Green as a Blue Gum - CA Pirates Rooted
Yes, I was once politically correct, a stoned, well-intended, holier-than-thou innocent ... That was back before I became “an enemy of the people.” A new piece by Robert Sward, the Tree-Killing Poet of Santa Cruz.

The War on War
Gregg Mosson, editor of Poems Against War, rails against "U.S. literary publishing’s silence—for, against, or solely documentary about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars." Is American poetry betraying the spirit of Uncle Walt?

The Nausea of Book Flaps
Women must have something better to do than this journey business. All books are going to have some element of this, but it shouldn't dominate. I mean, surely someone must have arrived at their destination by now and can report back so we can move on. Some notes on originality, by Chris Stewart.

After the Fall
"Field’s Jewishness is the key to his role as Jeremiah. It means he not only affirms and embraces the American ideal of democracy and holds America up to that standard, but he addresses Jews and Israel in the same measure." Charles Rammelkamp on Edward Field's poems, old and new.

Great Bowels of Fire
Old but good news! Astounding as it may seem, public restrooms house the last remaining cubicles of free expression in America. Norman Ball reports.