“It’s a lawsuit. From Bullington’s attorneys. Accusing you, and us, of defamation.” John Bedoun, the paper’s editor, holding the Service of Notice, glared at Clare Rodgers. “You assured me your source was genuine.” “He touched her up during the South Carolina primary. When she objected, he called her the C-word,” said Clare. “Well, he denies […]

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The very first time I stepped on stage was in 1965 when a teacher from the Lake Erie Girls’ College French Club, in Painesville, Ohio, asked a teacher at my high school if there were any boys who were proficient enough in the language to play the role of Mascarille in a production of Moliere’s […]

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Toothsome   Chaucer wrote of the gap-toothed wife of Bath, suggesting lustful characteristics of the diastema.   Dents du Bonheur. Lucky teeth. Soldiers in Napoleon’s army, holding rifles with two hands, required perfect incisors, for use in opening powder magazines. Gap-toothed men were classified unfit to fight. Some broke theirs to avoid war.   The […]

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Poetry Is Like Looking Poetry is like looking for a haystack in a needle. Joe Dolce _________________________________ Ag Argentum. Seventh metal of antiquity. Noble metal of alchemists. Represented by crescent moon. Less malleable than gold, high polish. Thirty pieces sold Jesus. Muhammad wore it on his little finger. Da Vinci, Durer and Raphael drew with […]

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Little Blue Book   We were both eleven or twelve, shared desks at St Mary’s Bible study class, reading our little blue Catechism books.   One time he dragged me in a brown wagon across town, straight down the centre of a dangerous five-lane intersection, somehow avoiding whizzing traffic.   My mother was waiting for […]

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Houston Riot of 1917 Gentlemen and generals, members of the Bar, I ask you to hear and review the facts just as they are, in the matter of this riot and soldiers’ mutiny, of the Third Battalion, 24th black US Infantry.   The boys were sent to Houston, from free New Mexico, under orders from […]

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Emanuel Bach paused, considering how best to put his next remark. “My father could have been quite wealthy had he truly exploited his one undisputed area of genius—his extraordinary playing ability. He could do things on the clavier I have never seen anyone else do. I remember watching him as a small child with awe. […]

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Possomnia Short, rattling, guttural, territorial vibrato, incongruous with that furry babyface. Torch light cones a child’s soft toy clinging to a branch. Brief staring match between my beam and wide moon eyes. An hour later, thud! on overhead tin, claws-on-chalkboard, thump thump, waddling nocturnal toddler trying to find entry, but every crack chicken-wire sealed.   […]

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Cullinan A flash of light in shaft wall. First thought: glass. Captain Fredrick Wells’ pocketknife released the 621 gram stone, twice the size of any before, named after the South African mine. Remarkable clarity, save the black spot at centre indicating internal strain. Birthday gift from Botha to Edward VII in the presence of the […]

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Writing music takes more talent, but writing lyrics takes more courage.                       —Johnny Mercer Now that Bob Dylan, a singer-songwriter, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, it is hard to imagine a time not long ago when the writing of popular songs was a specialised activity, quite distinct from the business of singing them. […]

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