ASTONISHING THE ENEMY "And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein shall be astonished at it." - Leviticus, 26: 32 About Mr. X., we need not be too kind. He was never one of us, but rather Odd, the way he urged we keep... » read this article

SEARCHING FOR DEMOCRACY I went out searching for Democracy. I went to the village Wise One, and she said: Look under the rocks where the scorpions hide for it is a hard thing and bitter, though it beckons with sweet words in the mouths of fools. I went to the... » read this article

LUCKY SHOT They killed 16 of our guys in a Chinook, And the General said, "lucky shot." Not so much for the guy Dreaming of his kids back home. He had his guts handed to him- Red, white and blue. The propeller blades were whirring And this prehistoric flying thing... » read this article

  LIVING IN THE FOURTH REICH In the Third Reich we said We were just following orders. Today we say, We're just doing our job. In the Third Reich We were anti-Semitic. (We hated the Jews.) In the Fourth Reich We are anti-Semitic. (We hate the Arabs.) In the Third... » read this article

Whitman Recidivist  Walt Whitman can't remember what he did with America. It was there in his back pocket yesterday or the day before: caroling, brawling, lusty, democratic; stretching its broadbacked plains in the sun between seas. He walks from door to door selling subscriptions to the Universe. Who are these... » read this article

THE WHORE NAMED WAR  The Whore named War lassoed the President, let him lay in lascivious arms while the Ministers and the Secretary and the People                         gawked in violaceous light she made them come over and over and over.             Though they hated her runny-mascara, caking-rouge mawkish montage, they... » read this article

My Jesus is a personal God! Your Jesus turns the other cheek. My Jesus stands with the rich and strong. Your Jesus sits with the poor and meek. My Jesus comes with a mighty sword. Your Jesus comes with a heavy cross. My Jesus is the Son of the Lord.... » read this article

Editor's Note: Gary Corseri wrote this poem about Axis of Logic in February, 2004. - LMB "axis of logic"  ...  the Poem Two million years of evolution of this 2-pound thing we call a brain- we might also call it (the best tool homo habilis, reared on its two hind... » read this article

INTERVIEW WITH MUNCH'S -THE SCREAM "It is your human environment that makes climate" - Mark Twain     Interviewer's note: It wasn't easy to track him down. Using my best contacts in the demimonde, I located him in a pied-a-terre walk-up in a Paris slum. I was frisked by a... » read this article

That Fool Bird That fool bird with its aria has wakened me again. It's 5 a.m., the wife's asleep and so's the sun and all sane tax accountants. Is it Pagliaccio's revenge upon our too recumbent heads? He wants us to forsake false dreams and see the world we can't... » read this article

Aunt Gianetta, at 80 Her mind is no less than the autumn light upon the heirlooms that arrange her home upon the hill that overlooks the sea. Like polished silver in the peace of night that warms us with the full moon's calm, she has enriched her memory by constant... » read this article

  cranes white questions in the distant fir; hunched in the branches like uncertain witnesses; like business partners at a funeral.... » read this article

Basho in Vermont Time again to go now, while sumac burns the valley, the sun slips red, red-golden over the fir-thick hills; lover and friends embrace me, the wind at my back is calling, I am singing the song of the seasons, my bones like paper, heart heavy as bone.... » read this article