Island
Howard Altmann

Island

The moment one says it is a moment
of perfection, it is something less
Transatlantic Episodes
Max Ewing

Transatlantic Episodes

The Lethargic lay in the Southampton harbor, looking reluctant to pull out. Napier saw his baggage swung on board and went down to investigate his cabin. Unable to afford a first-class passage, he had insisted on traveling second-class against the advice of his friends who urged him to travel third....
The Train
William Benton

The Train

You’re like her, the way she stood beside him on the railroad platform, steadfast in out-of-date clothes, not knowing what it meant
Icehouse Burgess
Joe Ashby Porter

Icehouse Burgess

I grew up in a Kansas City icehouse, loving dogs with their furry muzzles when they’d sniff past the ropes and peeling posters of a morning for a wad of sausage casing, or even a handshake in the dank gloom where the duffers and me slung steaming blocks onto the...
An Invitation to a Group of Noble Dames

An Invitation to a Group of Noble Dames

Alice Toklas survived for twenty years after the death of Gertrude Stein, a period that began in loneliness and ended in loneliness. In between she made a sufficiently full life ...

The Visitors


The Visitors


When I was twenty-five I went to London with my then fiancé, to visit his grandmother. Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham was the youngest daughter of artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. She left ...

1977

1977

Once upon a time — or as the French say, il était une fois — I spent a summer in Paris as the guest of a friend of my father’s. I had ...

Island

Island

The moment one says it is a moment
of perfection, it is something less
Berlin: The City and The Court

Berlin: The City and The Court

While the Emperor is, by nature, simple and self-effacing, the Empress is complicated and makes her presence felt.
Transatlantic Episodes

Transatlantic Episodes

The Lethargic lay in the Southampton harbor, looking reluctant to pull out. Napier saw his baggage swung on board and went down to investigate his cabin. Unable to afford a first-class passage, he had insisted on traveling second-class against the advice of his friends who urged him to travel third.
Now Voyagers: The Night Sea Journey. Some Divisions of the Saga Of Mawrdew Czgowchwz, Oltrano. Authenticated by Persons Represented Therein. Book One.

Now Voyagers: The Night Sea Journey. Some Divisions of the Saga Of Mawrdew Czgowchwz, Oltrano. Authenticated by Persons Represented Therein. Book One.

 
The Train

The Train

You’re like her, the way she stood beside him on the railroad platform, steadfast in out-of-date clothes, not knowing what it meant
Icehouse Burgess

Icehouse Burgess

I grew up in a Kansas City icehouse, loving dogs with their furry muzzles when they’d sniff past the ropes and peeling posters of a morning for a wad of sausage casing, or even a handshake in the dank gloom where the duffers and me slung steaming blocks onto the loading platform straw. I did love those teary-eyed mongrels more unconditionally than I’ve ever thought to love any human or other vertebrate, not to...
November 1952

November 1952

Maria, our new housekeeper, who was working for the Leslie Fiedlers in Forio, phoned yesterday afternoon from Rome and we went to meet her at Frascati.  She nearly talked my ...

To John Ashbery

To John Ashbery

We made it here, which is about as much as I can say for the trip. I’m afraid FP is emotionally unable to think of a drive as anything but another Dunkirk. In New London I did manage, by dint of taking Bruno for a quick trot, to peek into an ...
Phoebe 2002: An Essay in Verse

Phoebe 2002: An Essay in Verse

The high point of Simon and Schuster’s massive publicity campaign for Jacqueline Susann’s second “torrid roman à clef potboiler,” The Love Machine, was a party given for 500 booksellers at the 1969 ABA convention is Washington, D.C. ...
The Shape of a City, translated by Ingeborg M. Kohn

The Shape of a City, translated by Ingeborg M. Kohn

The shape of a city, as we all know, changes more rapidly than the heart of a mortal.  However it often happens that before being discarded, left behind to become ...

Lunch Break

Lunch Break

Upon my arrival in the city I slammed my mattress down on the ground and tried to fall asleep, but the screeching of the elevated trains kept me awake, so ...

Overheard

Overheard

“Worship as many as you can see, and more will appear.” – Peter Sheffer

“You seem to be in dire need of romance.”

“In trying to corner the last pea on my plate” ...

Dear Aunt Sally,

Dear Aunt Sally,

Dear Aunt Sally,

(H.S.H. the prince Jann of Winshatz-Lundberg-‘Sandburg’-Gluxberg):

This ties off a loose end of our business, I do hope you enjoy it. It is yours. The paper one will come ...

Italy – First Impressions

Italy – First Impressions

Outside the airport where the sun blazes, a brief but startling intro to how temperatures would rise during the day, freeze in the morning, then roast in the afternoon. A jacket’s a burden, no if’s and’s and but’s or ways around it. Up the hill where the school was a car blasted ...

Notes before a trip

Notes before a trip

At this time I have five cats; Bodice, Susie, Spooky, Holly and Mrs. Brown.  Brenda Eddy at Main Street Feed, Durham 349-0410 is the best person to contact for help ...

The Crazed Pig of Conques

The Crazed Pig of Conques

Edgar Oliver’s short performance of The Crazed Pig of Conques is here recorded as part of a live radio show, “Where have you been?” hosted by Brooklyn, NY artist Jeff Stark, ...