Last Bender

8.5 I didn’t have grandparents. My father’s father disappeared in Poland in 1939. He was a Rabbi and a Zionist and a Bolshevik as well I’m sure, who was bringing money he had raised in the states to Poland for Jews to escape to Palestine or America. He had been discovered and murdered by Nazi [...]

The Birth of Vietnam By Keith Taylor Berkeley : University of California Press, c1982. xxi, 397 p. : maps ; 24 cm. http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Vietnam-Keith-Weller-Taylor/dp/0520074173 The Civilization of Angkor By Charles Higham London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001. xv, 192 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. http://www.amazon.com/Civilization-Angkor-Charles-Higham/dp/0520242181/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262619216&sr=1-1 In my last South East Asia post I subjected the [...]

8.4 We unloaded the car and she supervised the provisioning of the kitchen. “Those go over here, these go over there,” pointing at cabinets and the pantry. On the counter, next to the stove, was a giant leg of lamb lying in blood on an open piece of brown butcher paper. Next to it was [...]

    The Kenning Anthology of Poets Theater: 1945-1985 Kevin Killian, David Brazil, Eds. Kenning Editions My friend David Brazil, and Kevin Killian, have edited an anthology of Poets Theater. This is a topic I have taken an interest in over the years, and their introduction and extensive (and lively) notes are a thorough and [...]

Fire and Evolution FIRE The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution By Frances D. Burton University of New Mexico Press Albuqurque 2009 THE HORSE, THE WHEEL, AND LANGUAGE By David W. Anthony Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford 2007 I didn’t expect to read three books on Fire this year. Some research is like that. I [...]

8.3 Sally woke me up at 6. Christopher was asleep on the couch and Sylvio was buried in Lydia’s bed, gripping the pillow with his two hands and mashing his face into it so all you could see was his hair, which he had been growing out for some reason. The thing about Sylvio is [...]

OK, Silliman linked to this, and when you click on the link the excised post appears, so I may as well put it here for all to see. My mood today sees it differently, though I’m not sure if Silliman is making fun of me or not. It is what it is. I’ve qualified my [...]

I have to thank Daurade, whose thoughtful comment on the blogh post from yesterday made me see myself from without, and hence this: A Retraction Yesterday I posted a rant that later embarrassed me. While I assume everyone who reads this blogh is a friend, probably a friend I’ve known for over ten years! I [...]

8.2 Early next morning around 11 I was awakened by Joseph’s booming laugh (a rare sound at that hour), followed by Raph’s gentler, drier one. “Which way does it go?” Joseph asked. There was silence. I got out of bed, put on a robe and came out into the big room. By the door the [...]

Farfalla Press blog has posted a YouTube recording of Weldon Kees reading three poems. Weldon Kees has been a favorite poet of mine for years, since Bill Ford, my formalist adversary, introduced me to him. Farfalla has also put me in their links, so I happily reciprocate. http://farfallapress.blogspot.com/ . The other poet I associate with [...]