November, 2025
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Combat Primer – Charles Bukowski
they called Céline a Nazi
they called Pound a fascist
they called Hamsun a Nazi and a fascist
they put Dostoevsky in front of a firing
squad
and they shot Lorca
gave Hemingway electric shock treatments
(and you know he shot himself)
and they ran Villon out of town (Paris)
and Mayakovsky
disillusioned with the regime
and after a lover’s quarrel,
well,
he shot himself too.
Chatterton took rat poison
and it worked.
and some say Malcom Lowry died
choking on his own vomit
while drunk.
Crane went the way of the boat
propellor or the sharks.
Harry Crosby’s sun was black.
Berryman preferred the bridge.
Plath didnt light the oven.
Seneca cut his wrists in the
bathtub (it’s best that way:
in warm water).
Thomas and Behan drank themselves
to death and
there are many others.
and you want to be a
writer?
it’s that kind of war:
creation kills,
many go mad,
some lose their way and
can’t do it
anymore.
a few make it to old age.
a few make money.
some starve (like Vallejo).
it’s that kind of war:
casualties everywhere.
all right, go ahead
do it
but when they sandbag you
from the blind side
don’t come to me with your
regrets.
now I’m going to smoke a cigarette
in the bathtub
and then I’m going to
sleep.
Poetry
- A Dog Has Died by Pablo Neruda
- A Moment of Silence – by Emmanuel Ortiz
- A Quiet Life – Baron Wormser
- A Wreath to the Fish – Nancy Willard
- Alone – Jack Gilbert
- Be Kind, Rewind – Neil Silberblatt
- Black Momma Math – Kimberly Jae
- Combat Primer – Charles Bukowski
- Crow Blacker Than Ever – Ted Hughes
- Don’t fall in love with a woman who reads – Martha Rivera-Garrido
- Failing and Flying – Jack Gilbert
- Feel Mo – Michael Korson
- Footprints In Your Heart – Eleanor Roosvelt
- Forgetfulness – Billy Collins
- Growing Old – Emma Rosenberg
- Homesick: A Plea for Our Planet – Andrea Gibson
- How to Slay a Dragon – Rebecca Dupas
- I Talked to a Lady – Tanya Howden
- If You Knew – Ellen Bass
- Love is Not All – Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Men – Maya Angelou
- my brain and heart divorced ~ john roedel
- Ode to Those Who Block Tunnels and Bridges – Sam Sax
- Relax – Ellen Bass
- Sleeping in the Forest – Mary Oliver
- Soliloquy of the Solipsist – Sylvia Plath
- Tangled Up In Blue – Bob Dylan
- The Four Noble Truths – Jake Onami Agnew
- The History of One Tough Motherfucker – Charles Bukowski
- The Layers – Stanley Kunitz
- The Long Boat – Stanley Kunitz
- The Shyness – Sharon Olds
- The War Works Hard – Dunya Mikhail
- To Diego with Love – Frida Kalko
- Tryst with Death – Gina Puorro
- Two-bloods – Rolando Kattan
- Wage Peace – Mary Oliver
- War Primer – Bertholt Brecht
- What I Learned From Listening to a Stutterer – Ellen Zorin
The War Works Hard – Dunya Mikhail
How magnificent the war is!
How eager
and efficient!
Early in the morning
it wakes up the sirens
and dispatches ambulances
to various places
swings corpses through the air
rolls stretchers to the wounded
summons rain
from the eyes of mothers
digs into the earth
dislodging many things
from under the ruins…
Some are lifeless and glistening
others are pale and still throbbing…
It produces the most questions
in the minds of children
entertains the gods
by shooting fireworks and missiles
into the sky
sows mines in the fields
and reaps punctures and blisters
urges families to emigrate
stands beside the clergymen
as they curse the devil
(poor devil, he remains
with one hand in the searing fire)…
The war continues working, day and night.
It inspires tyrants
to deliver long speeches
awards medals to generals
and themes to poets
it contributes to the industry
of artificial limbs
provides food for flies
adds pages to the history books
achieves equality
between killer and killed
teaches lovers to write letters
accustoms young women to waiting
fills the newspapers
with articles and pictures
builds new houses
for the orphans
invigorates the coffin makers
gives grave diggers
a pat on the back
and paints a smile on the leader’s face.
It works with unparalleled diligence!
Yet no one gives it
a word of praise.
Poetry
- A Dog Has Died by Pablo Neruda
- A Moment of Silence – by Emmanuel Ortiz
- A Quiet Life – Baron Wormser
- A Wreath to the Fish – Nancy Willard
- Alone – Jack Gilbert
- Be Kind, Rewind – Neil Silberblatt
- Black Momma Math – Kimberly Jae
- Combat Primer – Charles Bukowski
- Crow Blacker Than Ever – Ted Hughes
- Don’t fall in love with a woman who reads – Martha Rivera-Garrido
- Failing and Flying – Jack Gilbert
- Feel Mo – Michael Korson
- Footprints In Your Heart – Eleanor Roosvelt
- Forgetfulness – Billy Collins
- Growing Old – Emma Rosenberg
- Homesick: A Plea for Our Planet – Andrea Gibson
- How to Slay a Dragon – Rebecca Dupas
- I Talked to a Lady – Tanya Howden
- If You Knew – Ellen Bass
- Love is Not All – Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Men – Maya Angelou
- my brain and heart divorced ~ john roedel
- Ode to Those Who Block Tunnels and Bridges – Sam Sax
- Relax – Ellen Bass
- Sleeping in the Forest – Mary Oliver
- Soliloquy of the Solipsist – Sylvia Plath
- Tangled Up In Blue – Bob Dylan
- The Four Noble Truths – Jake Onami Agnew
- The History of One Tough Motherfucker – Charles Bukowski
- The Layers – Stanley Kunitz
- The Long Boat – Stanley Kunitz
- The Shyness – Sharon Olds
- The War Works Hard – Dunya Mikhail
- To Diego with Love – Frida Kalko
- Tryst with Death – Gina Puorro
- Two-bloods – Rolando Kattan
- Wage Peace – Mary Oliver
- War Primer – Bertholt Brecht
- What I Learned From Listening to a Stutterer – Ellen Zorin
Sleeping in the Forest – Mary Oliver
I thought the earth remembered me, she
took me back so tenderly, arranging
her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds. I slept
as never before, a stone
on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated
light as moths among the branches
of the perfect trees. All night
I heard the small kingdoms breathing
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling
with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.
Poetry
- A Dog Has Died by Pablo Neruda
- A Moment of Silence – by Emmanuel Ortiz
- A Quiet Life – Baron Wormser
- A Wreath to the Fish – Nancy Willard
- Alone – Jack Gilbert
- Be Kind, Rewind – Neil Silberblatt
- Black Momma Math – Kimberly Jae
- Combat Primer – Charles Bukowski
- Crow Blacker Than Ever – Ted Hughes
- Don’t fall in love with a woman who reads – Martha Rivera-Garrido
- Failing and Flying – Jack Gilbert
- Feel Mo – Michael Korson
- Footprints In Your Heart – Eleanor Roosvelt
- Forgetfulness – Billy Collins
- Growing Old – Emma Rosenberg
- Homesick: A Plea for Our Planet – Andrea Gibson
- How to Slay a Dragon – Rebecca Dupas
- I Talked to a Lady – Tanya Howden
- If You Knew – Ellen Bass
- Love is Not All – Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Men – Maya Angelou
- my brain and heart divorced ~ john roedel
- Ode to Those Who Block Tunnels and Bridges – Sam Sax
- Relax – Ellen Bass
- Sleeping in the Forest – Mary Oliver
- Soliloquy of the Solipsist – Sylvia Plath
- Tangled Up In Blue – Bob Dylan
- The Four Noble Truths – Jake Onami Agnew
- The History of One Tough Motherfucker – Charles Bukowski
- The Layers – Stanley Kunitz
- The Long Boat – Stanley Kunitz
- The Shyness – Sharon Olds
- The War Works Hard – Dunya Mikhail
- To Diego with Love – Frida Kalko
- Tryst with Death – Gina Puorro
- Two-bloods – Rolando Kattan
- Wage Peace – Mary Oliver
- War Primer – Bertholt Brecht
- What I Learned From Listening to a Stutterer – Ellen Zorin
