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Les Murray, Dissident Poet
Les Murray, who died at age 80 on April 29, has been called Australia’s greatest poet, but such an encomium meant little to him. Murray grew up in dire...
The Lawrence Tree
Outside Taos, New Mexico The topknot turned. Light struck the needled floor. The darts of sunlight found you where you lay, a target of entrancement, breathing pitch. I think...
From a Line in a Novel
“Why was this splendid monster given life?” “Thomas M. Disch, Camp Concentration The rent is due, and a pelagic grief stretches far beyond what the eye can see. Why...
After the Dinner
The friend who tells me I’m a selfish ass is drunk, so maybe I should let it pass before his acid eats out my insides, the torture chamber where...
Work Song
From the day my old man hazed the young cadet to now, as I pull on my socks, how many universes have been born? That eager Ensign, still too...