R A L P H The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities Number 117 Mid-Summer 2004 |
NEW LISTINGS
REVIEWS
Artful Jesters Until the Final Hour
Great Reviews of the Past
BRIEF REVIEWS
LETTERS
MORE LETTERS ARTICLES
Seth Glickenhaus READINGS The New British South Polar Expedition
POETRY Two from Present Tense: THE OFFICIAL RALPH
GENERAL INDEX
A PITHY SAMPLE
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The Buddha in the Jungle,
What Was She Thinking? and
Ferlinghetti's Americus I
Allen Ginsberg: The Voice of the Poet
"There are sixty who's ---
a who's-who of who's ---
dopesters going into total recall,
jumping off fire escapes,
suffering Eastern sweats,
cowering in unshaven rooms
in their underwear,
jumping in limousines
with the Chinaman of Oklahoma."
"Boats equipped with monster faces,
lobsters with paddle-wheels.
A glazed clay overstuffed chair
with an overstuffed glazed clay tomato
and ear of corn."
"The Führer would
put on his soft peaked cap ---
the only item of headgear that he
didn't place upright on his head like a saucepan,
she tells us, and we have to
remind ourselves that this Chaplinesque character
was the man who was responsible,
directly or indirectly,
for the death of some 30,000,000 people."
The Worst Journey in the World
"Polar exploration
is at once the cleanest and
most isolated way of
having a bad time which has been devised.
It is more lonely than London,
more secluded than any monastery,
and the post comes but once a year."
Chopin's Move,
Egon Schiele, and
The Things They Carried
Molecular Biology, and,
Richie Havens
Jane Juska,
A Roundheeled Woman;
Victoria Nudlebaum,
RALPH's Faithful Accountant
Citibank and the Dead
"Maybe you should
turn it over to collections."
"Since it is two months past due,
it already has been."
"So, what will they do
when they find out she is dead?"
"Either report her account
to the frauds division,
or report her to the credit bureau ...
maybe both."
"This administration is unaware
that the Third World War has begun.
It is a war that is
fragmented in many different countries,
fought by people working independently,
and distinguished by poverty
in every case."
Women with Big Eyes
"She was able
to turn the piano into a lizard,
the pantry into Ali Baba's cave,
the fountain into the Black Sea, and
the hibiscus tea into
the blood of the executed."
"He's frightened
not so much of conventional death,
but of the way death comes
ravening up to him while
he's still at his ease
under the sun,
and bites chunks out of his days."
Personals Ad
"Poet professor in autumn years
seeks helpmate companion protector friend
young lover w/empty compassionate soul
exuberant spirit, straightforward handsome
athletic physique & boundless mind, courageous
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Poets in the World
Denigration
"Though slaves,
who were wealth,
survived on niggardly provisions,
should inheritors of wealth
fault the poor enigma for
lacking a dictionary?"
Whore
"My pimp says,
'The kitchen light has gone out
in the brain of America. Even
when you open the refrigerator door,
it's still dark.'"
Paradox-of-the-Month
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.
of our most notorious reviews
as collected in the hard-copy
"FOLIO"
Help perpetuate honest, noisy, pesky book reviews.
With your $25 subscription, you get
a free copy of one or more of the titles from
Mho & Mho Works
Submitting
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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
Post
Office Box 16719
San Diego CA 92176
poo@cts.com