Barry Graham: Illusory Flowers in an Empty Sky
“Larry Fondation’s second book reads like a collaboration between Elmore Leonard, Dennis Cooper and Eminem.” - Metro Times (Detroit) Larry Fondation writes about what he knows best, the inner city with a twist. Raised in Dorchester, MA, where street fights and criminal acts were common occurrences, Fondation studied at Harvard University where the disparity between his history and his present stood out in sharp relief. He went on to become a community organizer in South Central Los Angeles and Compton, CA. The requirement for this job was not the degree in his hand but the fire in his belly. That fire burns in Common Criminals.
For the first time in history, we understand how isolation can ravage the body and brain. Now, what should we do about it?
This research is of urgent importance, but it surprises me not at all. I’m certain that every fear - with the possible exception of the fear of physical pain - is really a fear of loneliness, and that companionship is essential medicine. I wrote more about it here.
Automobile Accident 1945 - William W. Dyviniak (Via)
(from Traffic and Murder)
I think I was three years old
when my mother punched me in the face
so hard I rolled across the floor
and under a chair, and knocked
the chair over.
I don’t know
if that was the first time
she did it, or only
the first time
my memory held on to it.
She hated me, always.
She told me with her words,
her fists and her feet.
She was fat,
had a mouth full of brown teeth
and she smelled of piss,
sweat and cigarettes.
She has been dead for years,
turned to ashes
and given to the wind.
A wind blows this afternoon,
and it smells of grass and rain.
I make an offering of incense,
and I bow to her memory.
The dead outside my window
dance in the breeze. The web
that enshrouds them catches
the sunlight. The spider is small,
thick and brown. I look at it
from the other side of the glass,
my own web, my kitchen, where
a fresh kill roasts in the oven.
There are also stories by Tony Mason and Joe Clifford and an (online only) essay by Tom Piccirilli, who’s recovering from brain cancer. Go get it, and, better yet, subscribe. It’s one of the best magazines out there.
10 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America http://bananenplanet.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/10-things-most-americans-dont-know-about-america/ (via curlycherie)
There are two areas where the USA is way out in front of the rest of the world: war and prison. The technology of killing is the main investment of US national energy, and of course the semi-public semi-private incarceration economy is flourishing while schools and roads crumble. In many other quality-of-life terms — housing, healthcare, public transportation, public access to technology, mental health support, support for people with disabilities, childcare, primary education, maternity support, social safety net — I think a lot of US Americans personally know that things are not exactly rosy but see no options for fixing it.
(via zuky)
(via aoawaywego)
