Two Poems
The Fall To the first girl I ever kissed, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have, but the rum and Coke tasted so good on your tongue. I’m sorry, too, that my hands were not soft against your skinny calves, crossed at the ankle, folded like a paper fan. To the first girl I ever fucked, I’m […]
Billy Collins Reading “The Names” Before Congress (September 6, 2002)
“This snowfall is my final fantasy. Once America the woman was coming on my dick, her flag pin a pinhole to a world without strife. But then—” he sneezes. “Let me begin again. Terrorism. The weeping willow lowers her hair and head in sorrow. The fireman and his wife die and die and are finally […]
Robot Unicorn Attacked
In the last 30 days, the town of Princeton has searched for “robot unicorn attack” on average (that is as percentage of total traffic) 25 times as much as Seattle, 30 times as much as Boston and Los Angeles, and 50 times as much as New York and Chicago. For those that are unfamiliar, Robot […]
Divest now!
Workers’ rights groups around the world celebrated an unprecedented victory last November in what had been an ongoing struggle between the workers of Honduras and Russell Athletics, the largest private employer in the country. Almost a year ago, Russell shut down a factory there to prevent workers from organizing a union, throwing 1,200 people out […]
The True is the Hole
Last year, the unlikely phrase “Hegel’s Bagels” appeared in this newspaper on two separate (although not unrelated) occasions: first, in the cover illustration; and second, as the title of an article. The article reported that the Princeton German Department had opened a bagel shop called “Hegel’s Bagels,” and featured quotes from several members of the […]
Unaroused and Proud
“In our society, intimacy is strongly equated to sex,” says David Jay, founder of AVEN, creator of asexuality.org, and a self-avowed asexual.
A Day, and a Shura, in Zaywalat hawza
If you haven’t seen _The Hurt Locker_ yet, don’t. Watch _Groundhog Day_ instead; it’s much better, and it will also give you a far better sense of what the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are like. That’s not an original thought; soldiers at various bases in those countries have said it to me probably half […]
