R A L P H The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities Volume
XXV, Number 4 Early Mid-Summer, 2001 |
REVIEWS
Inventions of Farewell: A Book of Elegies
History: A Novel
Great Essays of the Past
BRIEF REVIEWS
ARTICLES
READINGS
POETRY
Great Manifestos of the Past
LETTERS THE OFFICIAL RALPH
HELP
THE PREVIOUS ISSUE OF RALPH
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NEW LISTINGS
Rebel Radio,
Primitive American Art, and
Buddhism and Psychotherapy.
Under the Eye of the Clock
"With lightning speed Joseph's unguarded hand
flew in between the man's legs while his fingers tickled
all before them. The poor man got the shock of his life
and swiftly he turned on his tame attacker.
Apologies were offered but the man was too startled
to reply."
"Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy;
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day."
Elsa Morante
"It is an intermix of tenderness and violence
that runs through History, (and History). Such a twisting and turning
so that terrible moments somehow come always to be grafted
onto those with an unbearable gentleness."
Johann Sebastian Bach and The Aliens
"Johann Sebastian Bach was an extra-terrestrial being from
the planet Ixneria, whose spaceship crash-landed here
around 1650. He obviously constructed a flawless cover story,
inasmuch as all the standard biographies suggest nothing out of the ordinary,
except a
family background of third-rate musicians,
and then a tiresome career-path of churches
and aristocratic courts."
Art House Cinemas,
Tibetan Medicine, and
The Black Plague.
Don't Mind Me, I'm Just One of Jerry's Kids
"The word of choice is crippled ---
and it's an ancient and honorable word.
The Rev. W. W. Skeat, of etymological fame,
tells us it comes from the Anglo-Saxon word
creopan --- to creep."
Down in the Dumps
"Our local trash-heap has what wine aficionados would call
a distinctive nose, one unlike any I've found
in the more fashionable parts of the world.
I've done dumps in Paris and Rome and San Francisco and London ---
and I have to say that this one takes the cake."
Bombs as Easter Eggs
"An egg bomb had fallen,
the shape of a huge Easter egg, all covered with tinfoil,
painted with the designs of the American flag.
It had spurted lights and sparks like a beautiful Catherine-wheel;
and out of it stepped the movie star Janet Gaynor."
Useppe's Poem
"Stars like trees and rustle like trees.
The sun on the ground like a handful of little chains and rings.
The sun all like lots of feathers a hundred a thousand feathers.
The sun up in the air like lots of steps of buildings."
Three by Christopher Mulrooney
"so here's merry the one-o
lots of tons of fun-o
and the scorpion without a sting
in his cinnamon bun-o."
Three by Marcus Cafagña
"Even when I throw up my hands
and shout, What the hell do you think
you're doing? he only blinks, raises
a party favor to his lips and blows it,
honking out at me, a long paper tongue."
DADA Excites Everything
"HAS DADA EVER SPOKEN TO YOU:
about Italy
about accordions
about women's pants
about the fatherland
about sardines
about Fiume
about Art (you exaggerate my friend)
about gentleness
about D'Annunzio
what a horror
about heroism
about mustaches
about lewdness
about sleeping with Verlaine
about the ideal (it's nice)
about Massachusetts
about the past
about odors
about salads
about genius, about genius, about genius
about the eight-hour day
about the Parma violets"
Jerry Lewis and Jerry's Kids
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