New York to Your Armchair

Ken Wohlrob must love his city. The author of The Love Book returns with stories so encrusted with the ambiance of New York, they could not have come from anyone else other than a resident. These stories, sometimes soft focused and sentimental about the city that was, other times microscopic in their harsh scrutiny, share one thing in common- characters. Wohlrob empathizes with these denizens occupying a rapidly evolving environment.

Many years back, on my first trip to New York, a friend warned me that with a city so heavily populated, I may start to think strangers looked familiar. I found this happening as I read Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners- New York Stories. Haley, the child in the story “The Look” reminded me of a nameless girl facing the character, Pat, in a hospital in an earlier story, “The Metronome Winds Down.”

The price of admission is well worth it for the final story alone. “Claimus Flees Manhattan” is a literary lark I’m sure I will find myself revisiting for years. A gem!

Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners- New York Stories may be found in various forms, even a soundtrack, here.

Comments

Perpetual Poetry: Words Inspiring Words, a review

"Reading Karen Lillis" copyright 2014 Kristin Fouquet Perpetual Poetry: Words Inspiring Words a review of The Paul Simon Project by Karen Lillis I have a confession to make. I am not a poet. I write fiction and I believe writing poetry is a completely different process. I love reading good poetry, but I am in no way a poetry scholar. These are the reasons I usually do not review poetry chapbooks. The Paul Simon Project by Karen Lillis is only my second exception to this rule. Influenced by Simon’s words and music on the album Still Crazy After All These Years , Lillis duplicates the song titles for her poems in this collection. Some follow a similar path as the subject of the song; others venture in their own direction. The album’s title song inspires a poem which mimics the melancholy and sentimentality of the original. Yet, she pumps it up with a contemporary edginess and gender reversal. In “My Little Town,” Simon sings,

You Were Perfectly Fine by Dorothy Parker

"Martini" kristin fouquet This is my favorite hangover story. A raise of the glass to the inimitable Dorothy Parker. You Were Perfectly Fine by Dorothy Parker The pale young man eased himself carefully into the low chair, and rolled his head to the side, so that the cool chintz comforted his cheek and temple. “Oh, dear,” he said.”Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear. Oh.” The clear-eyed girl, sitting light and erect on the couch, smiled brightly at him. “Not feeling so well today?” she said. “Oh, I’m great,” he said.”Corking, I am. Know what time I got up? Four o’clock this afternoon, sharp. I kept trying to make it, and every time I took my head off the pillow, it would roll under the bed. This isn’t my head I’ve got on now. I think this is something that used to belong to Walt Whitman. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.” “Do you think maybe a drink would make you feel better?” she said. “The hair of the mastiff that bit me?” he said.”Oh, no,

Photographs in Exist Otherwise, Issue #6

“Masks are made of different kinds of material: cardboard, velvet, flesh, the Word. The carnal mask and the verbal mask are worn in all seasons. “ - Claude Cahun Happy Bastille Day! It was on another French Holiday, Mardi Gras, in 2022, I used my old Kodak Brownie film camera to capture the festivities. I'm delighted to have three of those photographs, "Mardi Gras Birdman," Mardi Gras Flock," and "Mardi Gras Toast" published in Exist Otherwise, Issue #6 with the theme of Masks. Many Thanks to editor, cc bovarysme!

Le Salon Annex

Search This Blog