Fifteen years ago, it was a cold night in an apartment in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn where maybe two dozen people gathered for a Burns Night party. Burns Night is January 25 and celebrates the birthday of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet who lived in the late 1700s. Several of us had brought our volumes of… Read more »
My plans to take time off from work were squelched by too many year-end goings on at work. So I drove up to Connecticut last Friday night to get one full day of hunting in this past Saturday. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving and the highways were regularly quiet. I-95 in Connecticut is normally… Read more »
The Fourth of July every year brings with it many great traditions: hot dogs, fireworks, partying to excess with friends and family. And every year I have partied with high school friends in a way that embraces all of these observances. My high school friend Steve and his wife Paige put on a great 4th… Read more »
I moved back to New York City nearly 20 years ago. I packed all of my belongings into a small rented moving truck and drove north from the sprawl of suburban Atlanta to the sprawl of New York City. It was early November when I arrived at my mother’s house in suburban Briarcliff. The trees… Read more »
Sid Yiddish is a Chicago performance artist who is running for president as a write-in candidate. He describes himself as a “Lincoln Republican” though his politics are more in line with the Democrats, but you are welcome to write him in on whatever ballot you choose; he’s not picky. He is the only candidate promising… Read more »
My heart breaks for Paris, my heart breaks for France, my heart breaks for Humanity. La Mer for Claudine Armand Receding inside the room of my mind where I open my eyes into a place I have never been, through the window’s light I look out on the sea from Saint-Nazaire. Listening to… Read more »
This past Friday I had a work meeting to go to even though I was officially off from work. I had no one to blame but myself. I set up the meeting and I hadn’t realized that our office was closed that day. But it was an important lunch and it fit everyone’s schedule, so… Read more »
The Borough of Queens is taking applications for its poet laureate, and I’m going to throw my sweaty hat into the ring. I think my chances of being accepted are low, but fuck it. I’m as good as anyone else and I like this borough very much. Queens was where I lived when I moved… Read more »
The poetry scene in New York City is more alive and vibrant than ever. This may strike some people by surprise. When we think of poetry we often think of the 19th century salons in Paris or the Bohemian haunts of the 20’s or the howling beatitudes of the 50’s and 60’s. However, there are… Read more »
Everyone has heard the phrase that all roads lead to Rome. When I first arrived in New York City in 2011, I felt all the literary lines I had been reading through my life had been leading me here. I had never stepped foot in the city, I had never even been within 200 miles… Read more »
