Monthly Archives: September 2023

Essence

Essence Last year I died three times. Once on an airplane Coming from Bangkok Twice on an Operating table. Passing from this life To white oblivion Not heaven Not hell Merely a white oblivion Coming back Not as a reincarnation But To this life To this body To the meaninglessness Of the Now. My body […]

The Slum of Hope

Kibera The Forest in Nubian Nairobi Kenya A million souls Living by the Nairobi Lake On $2 a day A slum Bigger than Boston Filled with every tribe in Kenya, Uganda, the Sudan, Nubia, Somalia Living together On $2 a day Never giving up Kibera is the slum of hope. I have walked through the […]

KOSHER PIG by Peter Nolan Smith

Ten years ago business in the Diamond District was almost non-existent during the high holidays of Rosh Shananah and Yom Kippur. The Hassidim disappeared to the various shetls scattered around New York and tourists entered our diamond exchange to gawk at the diamonds and jewelry. At least twice a day out-of-towners asked in complete seriousness, […]

ODE TO LOUIE LOUIE – 1980

ODE TO LOUIE LOUIE Louie Louie Oh No we gotta go 1963 Eleven years old A Boy Scout at the Hyde Park YMCA Looking to get my Swimming Merit Badge Scared of Polio in the pool Scared of the chlorine Scared of drowning The Scout instructor shouting, “Twenty laps.” “One lap underwater.” “Rescue your buddy.” […]

Pattaya’s 2nd World Tattoo Festival

Written May 23, 2008 My 5th Grade teacher, a nun, instructed her students that any souls arriving at the Pearly Gates with a tattoo on their deceased body would be dispatched immediately to Hell. Tattoos were a mortal sin for Catholics and despite having abandoned my Catholic faith I have retained the fear that a […]