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“Ode to My Father’s Manhattans” [by Beth Gylys]
Ode to My Father’s Manhattans Clinkof icein a glass,crackof the cubesas he poured,bright redeyeof a maraschinobobbingin the browngoldsloshof Jim Beamand sweetvermouth. Surelywe couldswimin a lifetimeof those drinks,gallonsupon gallonsswirled, sipped,swilledand swallowed,stickyon the counter,the twinkleof his…
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From “Sincerity and Authenticity” on July 4th, Lionel Trilling’s Birthday
Here is the magnificent final paragraph of "The Authentic Unconscious," the final chapter of Lionel Trilling's Sincerity and Authenticity (1972), his last book, which originated as the Norton Lectures he delivered at Harvard University…
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To Independence (Steve McQueen) and some prose in favor of peace [by David Lehman]
It is July 4th in The Great Escape, and in the POW camp dominated by Brits, the Americans on hand gather to celebrate the day. Steve McQueen lifts his glass of homemade rotgut and…
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Remembering Tom Disch, February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008 [by Dana Gioia]
Tom Disch, who died on this day in 2008, is pictured here with his terrific computer game "Amnesia," a participatory novel in which the player awakes naked in a hotel room without any clues…
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Wendy Xu: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]
______________________________________ I Must Change My Form It’s true, nothing is coming out like it used to anymore Usually I am…
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“Male Stargazing” [by Jim Cummins]
Male Stargazing After the prostate is removed,The male gaze, straight from the savannah,Turns inward, toward the clinical.The perusal of breasts is no longerThe perusal of breasts, but the aestheticsOf proportion: how the breastsRelate to…
