New York

November 8, 2012

Editor:

WE WERE SWALLOWED

What if we were vomited up by the cosmic unicorn
with great lumps of flesh, gobbets raw
and books you can't get rid of?

Am I the one who's already closest to full health
in the land of mist and snow?
If I were you, I would bring this to another place,
where we can wax lyrical about our hypothesis.

We were swallowed up by the dark tunnel ahead.
It was now safe to come out of the woodwork.
They walked on twenty-five pounds of pure beef fat
in large slabs, and dozens of raw eggs
to create the sounds of the characters' footsteps.

It's convenient to have an up and a down
and/or a set of 3-D parameters to walk on
unfortunately the original reason for doing all that
is utterly lost. We got stuck in it,
we were swallowed whole by the *fog*

New York

Photos I've Seen Taken at Grand Central

Kristen Gallagher

September 28, 2012

Editor:

Nathan Austin

of escalator down to Dining Concourse
of the ceiling
of market walkway from camera lifted and pointed over crowd
of children posing near information booth
of elderly couple and young woman in crowd on main concourse
of woman and two children in crowd on main concourse
of woman below sign that says “subway”
of young woman standing at bottom of east balcony stairs
of central clock from northeast
of American flag hanging above entrance to Vanderbilt Hall
of woman between east balcony stairs and Lexington Passage
of central clock from northeast
of downward twist of west balcony railing close up
of central clock from person reaching up with one arm casually while passing across
           southeast end of main concourse
of young girl midway down stairs of east balcony from top of east balcony
of little boy in crowd on main concourse close up

New York

White Like Me, Stealing My Teenage Death Poetry & Poem

Gary Sullivan

September 17, 2012

Editor:

Mathew Timmons

White Like Me

“Milkhead.” Moonskins and clears. Always liked Clorox.

Sharpton-negatives. Cocaine-white sugar-whipped cream-Irish butt-cumulus cloud face. “Gabacho” just rolls off the tongue—the “ass” is implied, no?

Powder blank pages. “White people”—with an appropriate touch of ice, acid and annoyance. Whitey McWhitester? Kansas. Mouse. Honkubine Pimples.

Whatever happened to Gringo? Southern fried pimpin’. Ivory League. Schmoo(s). Straight outta the Upper East Side. Vacuous, self-entitled, puritanical, scarlet letter-bearing sinners.

Pillow case. Bruncher. Nilla. Pigmentally-challenged Mayonnaisian.

Shatners. Blanco Bill. Bradies. Boss.

I got a lot of “chalky” tossed at me. Teeth-white out-fancy couch that kids don't sit on-head? Pinkskins. Liquid Paper. #FFFFFF. Milky.

New York

Evaluation

Charles Bernstein

August 15, 2012

Editor:

Mathew Timmons

Evaluation

This was the most tortuous course I have ever
taken. Its newness, rather than allowing more
freedom and interest, caused greater problems.
The class ruined the second semester of my
Freshman year. The lectures and readings were
pointless. It was a major challenge just to stay
awake. I learned absolutely nothing. The class
was as boring as sitting in a white cell staring at a
clock. The professor really knows his stuff, but
going to the classes is like getting a lobotomy.
The fact that he is a native English speaker is his
only strong point as a professor. Having
a TA for whom English is a first language
helped a lot too. Someone shoot me in the head.
I highly recommend majors sign up for this, but
the course is not for the weak-hearted.