“Hollywood Movie Posters is the oldest memorabilia store in the world located in the same location with the same proprietor.”—KABC, March 19, 2020
All through the first great war to end all wars,
the siren-addled nights of its successor,
up till last week, the sunbaked, time-warped doors
of one slim passage welcomed every passer-
by . . . High noon, yet no one passes by . . .
Magnetic trinkets draw no tourist’s eye.
Motes build tract housing in the grooves of vinyl.
An eerie calm prevails. Not tomblike—shrinal.
I come for solace. Far in back, vitrines
hold Universal Monsters safely penned:
vampires, mummies, wolfmen—every friend
of anxious childhood, surest of vaccines
against the grownup world’s uncertain horrors,
which spread like scentless, soundless fog before us.
—Boris Dralyuk
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
A Culture of Parricide
I learned a new word the other day: déploration. It’s the French, directly from the Latin, for “lament.”…
The Chariot Burials
Wheeling through the clotted earth, / Bronze, bone, and leather clumped in clay...
William of St. Thierry
“Where love and understanding join, hearts are tranquil, / They rise above the turmoil of this world…
