LETTERS
Memorial for Soldiers
Who Died at Loos

ARTICLES
Scotty & Hobs
Part I
"It boils down to a pious dream
that all of the lies and betrayals and inhumanities
of Communism would have been "acceptable" ---
if only the Soviet Union had succeeded,
or at least been not quite so
disastrous a failure."
Part II
"There it is.
In the struggle to reconstruct
the human species,
some people had to make
little sacrifices
like 10 or 25 years in the Gulag,
or their lives."

Great Articles from the Past
The Candy Stripe Buses
"There is something
he hasn't known for twenty years.
The touch of a woman ... watching her
as she comes close to him.
Her hands. Her hair
falling down just so."

READINGS
On Eating Your Husband (For Supper)
"A chemical produced
in the head of the male insect says,
No, don't go near her, you fool,
she'll eat you alive.
At the same time
a chemical in his abdomen says,
Yes, by all means,
now and forever yes."
On Learning to See
"A fifteen-year-old boy,
who was also in love with a girl
at the asylum for the blind,
finally blurted out, No, really,
I can't stand it any more;
I want to be sent back to the asylum again.
If things aren't altered,
I'll tear my eyes out."

POETRY
The Scrubwoman
"As a girl, in Poland, she watched her husband
Be dragged through the shade of five pines
To the execution wall. A year earlier
She had watched him bathe
In the bronze tub the landlord had put
Out in the field as a trough for horses."
Aubade of the Singer and Saboteur, Marie Triste
"A young lieutenant tortured me that first night.
Knowing I was a singer they asked me to perform
For the commandant early the next week.
By then I was able to stand again..."

THE OFFICIAL RALPH
Paradox-of-the-Month

GENERAL INDEX
A complete list of all books reviewed in RALPH,
arranged by title, including author, subject, and publisher,
plus a listing of all readings, articles and poems
that have appeared since 1994.

A PITHY SAMPLE
of our most notorious reviews
as collected in the hard-copy
"FOLIO"

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