On Sept. 11, 2023, from a perch above the East River you could see a skywide rainbow over New York City. On Sept. 18, from the same perch, you could see U.S. Coast Guard boats patrolling the East River as part of extensive security put in place for the opening of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
If You Believe in Auguries . . .
. . . the double rainbow over New York City on 9/11/2023 was a good sign. Even if you don’t believe in them, this was wondrous to see. My amateur video was taken from Manhattan overlooking the East River, the 59th Street bridge (since renamed, but never mind), and Roosevelt Island. Too bad the colors are washed out. The real thing was much more impressive. I’ve searched the daily NY newspapers to see whether they ran a photo or a video. Only the NY Post took note here with a video less complete than this one. Another amateur video appeared on TikTok and racked up 6 million views. Television broadcasts also took note. I can’t believe a professional photographer somewhere in the city didn’t capture this in what used to be called “living color.”
Anselm Kiefer’s Large ‘Winter Forest’ Up Close
A mere detail from the central panel of the painting is overwhelming.
Cut-Up Experiment Published by Moloko in New Edition
“Cut Up or Shut Up” was an experiment that grew out of Carl Weissner’s “The Braille Film” and a cut-up text by the two of us, “The Louis Project,” both published by the Nova Broadcast Press in 1970. To put the stamp of approval on our effort, so to speak, we asked William Burroughs for a text to use perhaps as a foreword. As far as I know, Burroughs never did say whether he approved. But we took his contribution for an implicit endorsement.
‘the kind of thing to stir / belief in mythic gods’
In the pissing rain last night
a skywide lightning show
flashed for half an hour.
The blackness of the night
turned white, a most amazing
strobing whiteness everywhere . . .
‘The Undying Guest’
Roving Poet With a Painter’s Eye
Mark Terrill’s latest book fits gemlike and exquisite in the palm of your hand. Yet it spreads like a flower deep in your head. Probing daily life for meaning in far-flung places, this sea-going, globe-trotting author is a roving poet with a painter’s eye. If it’s possible to be Kerouacian without the mawkishness and Baudelaireian without the derision, Terrill is both.
‘Broken, Furious, and Infinitely Pathetic’
Mencken Could Have Written Trump’s Obituary
Now that former President Donald J. Trump has been indicted for directing a conspiracy to in effect abolish America’s democratic system by corrupting the electoral process so as to cling to power instead of complying with the peaceful transfer of power as required by the Constitution, the S/U staff thought it appropriate to bring back this post from Nov. 9, 2020, with an up-to-date 2023 illustration.
A Slim Volume That ‘Unbends the Mind’
I’m told that a review of “Kleine Tiere / Small Animals” will appear in the Swiss literary journal ORTE. The book has been published in a bilingual (German-English) edition by Stadtlichter Presse. The review is by Clemens Umbricht.
Blogs Are Personal
A Mary Beach Letter Turns Up from Long Ago
This letter to Laura Huxley appeared on eBay. Where did it come from? Possibly from a dealer via the Huxley Estate.
A Different Kind of Mushroom Cloud
Recalling the first Trinity nuclear blast, which is being memorialized by the new Christopher Nolan film “Oppenheimer,” I couldn’t help thinking of the last collage that Norman O. Mustill made and his first using digital tools.
A Proper Obituary for Jay Jeff Jones (1946-2023)
Jay Jeff Jones was born in in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1946. His parents, Nelson and Lila Fay Jones, both hailed from Cherokee ancestry. Raised in and around San Francisco, Jay joined the Hell’s Angels in the early 1960, riding his Harley Davidson around the city. As a teenager, he hung around North Beach, acting with the Mime Troupe, later working as a copy boy for the San Francisco Examiner. Frank Herbert, author of “Dune,” was one of his bosses.
See the Difference
Shakespeare Rewrote This Sonnet
Which do you prefer? The earlier or the later version?
Tugboat Tillie
Straight Up has moved house and is taking a vacation break.
David Erdos: ‘Under Sea and Sky’
Offered in tribute to the crew fighting for their lives in the depths of the Atlantic.
‘The artist’s virtual junk stall is open all hours . . .’
![The Moors of Manchester [photo by Jay Jeff Jones, 2018] Click to enlarge.](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Moors-behind-Jays-house-560enh-1-200x200.jpg)
ET IN BOHEMIA EGO — A poem for the ages by Jay Jeff Jones (1946-2023).
Such a Great Read!
The Poet Dying: Heinrich Heine’s Last Years in Paris
If the opening of Ernst Pawel’s biographical study of the 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine doesn’t grab you, don’t bother to read on. But it if does, treat yourself to a great reading experience by getting hold of the book. ‘The Poet Dying’ includes a selection of Heine’s poems that runs to 80 or so pages, with the originals and the translations facing each other. Read an excerpt from one of the poems, ‘The Slave Ship,’ a depiction of the Dutch slave trade that gives you a solid dose of Heine’s sarcasm.
William Cody Maher
‘If you don’t have a present, you always have a past’
‘A man is looking into his past. Let’s see what he finds there.’ — William Cody Maher, poet / writer / performance artist