Last Bender

An old, nearly lost friend wrote to say she had read my highschool reunion blogh and thought that i found the whole thing depressing. well, i’ve just reread it. to my old comrades! I was not depressed by you! I am happy I went and I am happy I saw you. I still want to [...]

South East Asian Historiography Not long ago I finished William Southworth’s two volume dissertation on Champa. Since there is very little written in English about Champa I was excited to find it, and I was not disappointed, really, or at least, I had no right to be. I have also just finished reading Georges Maspero’s [...]

3. The door dinged and swung open decisively as Athol, the UPS guy, bumped his hand truck down the stairs. He was a ruddy, aggressively ugly man in that particularly English way that is almost beautiful, like a gnarl on an oak tree, with his bent nose, pockmarked skin, and blue, rhinoceros eyes. “Back here,” [...]

  the crude drain in a pair of pants snow squalls at the window   women dressed like children indignant courting of filthy thoughts  

A Question for Dreams why do you bring the dead and write yourself in love’s light why her still and empty face the blue eyes and tangled nylon hair she doesn’t cry ouch at the knots dad wants to know where he is i didn’t tell him we threw the videos out

Holidays in the Sun   Mind and heart in revolt I trade this rain for feedback these branches are broken guitars and the lavender mist smoke drifting in from  battlefields   the smell of mowed grass covers sulfur and formaldehyde Holidays in the Sun –the bombs haven’t gone away and I’m still waiting   the [...]

The Girl in the White T Shirt   Jack Spicer drank himself to death Olson drank himself to death, Lowell and Bishop, Berryman and Thomas drank themselves to death It was fashionable to drink and poetry Was not fashionable and so they drank To be famous and because the pain of alienation Was too great [...]

Endangered Species 2.3 That night I believe I stood at her door for five minutes listening to the pounding bass, feeling tweeters ripple through the cinder block and wood. After this momentary hiatus from reality, I turned tail and pushed the elevator button. I had not been detected. There would be no loss of face. [...]

  My sister lives out on the island And her husband takes the train He’s big and he’s fat And he doesn’t even have a brain Don’t you know you have to kill Kill your sons Don’t you know you have to kill Kill your sons Then you run run run run run Run away [...]

2.2 All through junior high Tammy Markham ran and swam and played tennis. Her athletic body was unbearable. I would see her at the pool in her bikini. She had the hairiest armpits of all the girls and used to lie out on her towel on the deck so that you saw her pubic hair [...]