The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities www.ralphmag.org
Number 199 Early Spring 2010 |
REVIEWS
FDR v. The Constitution
"To the South,
the conservative Court
served as a shield
against the nation's emerging
urban and ethnic majority,
as a means of holding
the power in the states
instead of sending it
to Washington."
Louis H. Sullivan
And Naturalized Architecture
"The thought of these
sculptured buildings
being wrecked for
the grotty glass boxes
that have taken their places
did turn me morbid and sullen ...
made me snarl at the wife,
scold the children,
kick the dog."
The Last of His Mind
"His body is warmer than mine,
and I feel the heat
coming off his chest,
covered only by his old plaid shirt.
I lie on my back beside him
in the quiet room,
getting used to
the stillness."
The Book of Fathers
"He was seized
by the desire
to wake up every morning
in a room ... with
lilacs at the window,
which as he rose and
opened the window wide
would fill with
their deep scent."
Land of the Lost Souls
"If you plan to
live on the streets,
this will be your guide-book;
especially if you have,
for some strange reason,
chosen New York."
Body Copy
"His hero gets around
in a 1971 Olds Cutlass ---
and its ancient fan-belt
'screams bloody murder'
when it arrives
at the L.A. Country Club."
Erotic Poems
"His was a tanned,
just-off-the-courts
Ivy League sort of ease.
I remember his freckles and
his husky voice and
my heart bumping about in
my chest."
Eddie Signwriter
"'No,' the teacher said,
'they have been lucky,
but not by accident.
Their wills are so strong
that their own luck
is a choice.'"
Great Reviews of the Past
The Art of Rockefeller Center
"The current owners
of Rockefeller Center might
find an energetic youngster
just out of school who could
study the photographs and 'cartoons'
from Rivera's fresco and simply
paint it back entire over
María Sert's abortion."
LETTERS
Luke Swank
The Maxim Gun
Reginald A Fessenden
MORE LETTERS EVEN MORE LETTERS
YET EVEN MORE LETTERS
War and Regular People
The Brain of Pooh
Writing as Therapy
Cryptic Letters of the Month
Kisses and
Your New Friend
Letters We Never Finished Reading
Heartful of Tears
ARTICLE
Great Articles from the Past
The Psychotherapist Is Always Late
"I take the canvas
from the wall,
throw it on the ground,
growling, stomp it with rage,
rip it into shreds with
the satisfaction of
emotional release."
READINGS
Reynaud and Saladin
"Once in Cyprus,
Reynaud showed that he was
a crusader of the old style:
his army pillaged, raped,
and murdered at will,
unmindful of the awkward fact
that the islanders were Christian."
The Innocent III Abroad
"To Innocent's mind,
he had been awarded
'not only the universal church
but the whole world to govern.'
Not surprisingly,
given this view,
his pontificate proved dangerous
for anyone who
disagreed with him."
POETRY anyone lived in a pretty how town THE OFFICIAL RALPH
GENERAL INDEX
Great Poems of the Past
The McPoem
"I must confess that I, too, like it:
the poem that's filed up flat and fast with condiments
on a sesame seed bun. Steamy, grease-spattered,
and juicy, fluent with salt, piping hot
from the grid, glazed with bubbling oil."
"busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was
all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes."
Paradox-of-the-Month
All the back-issues of RALPH,
including titles of books under review,
along with author, subject, and publisher,
plus links to readings, articles, and poems
that have appeared on-line
since 1994.
A PITHY SAMPLE
of our most notorious reviews
as collected in the hard-copy
"FOLIO"
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Submitting Books The best way to get books to RALPH for review. Submitting Reviews Suggestions for would-be reviewers --- and payment schedule. History RALPH didn't spring full-blown from the brows of the gods: We've been around (in different guises) for over thirty years. The Fessenden Fund Describing the good works of RALPH's official godparent Behind the Scenes The Faces of Those Who Make Up the Face of RALPH Copyright Notice The Reginald A. Fessenden Educational Fund, Inc. |
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