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Cry Out for the Fate of the Tibetan PeopleNext month at Seder, we will recall how Egypt made the lives of the Children of Israel “bitter.” We will remember how “the children of Israel groaned… and cried out” and that “God heard their moaning.”…Read more

In the Presence of GeniusWhat is there to say? Prodigious, brilliant, David Shapiro has lived in many worlds of art, including music and painting. Shapiro is also the author of four books of criticism: on poet John Ashbery, and on artists Jim Dine, Jasper Johns and Piet Mondrian. In total, there are 20 books to his name, including translations, editions, and collaborations with painters and poets and philosophers and aestheticians. But poetry is at the center of his work — not poetry simply as a formal activity, but as a way of thinking and a way of feeling, and even of being. This new collection is a chance to look back at the published work of the past 40 years, since it includes a selection from his previous nine books, and a sheaf of new poems.…Read more

PSALM 151What Men WantThe talk between them at the table, three pairsof men and women, husbands and wives,was of men and women, husbands and wives,and therefore edgy, so he beganhis contribution to it cautiously:an anecdote of several years before,he thought perhaps his wife recalled —about the way that men will lookat women…Read more

PSALM 151Hapax LegomenaI covered you and cover you I covet you and uncover you My dream intent to discover you seems clear as a snowflake dresses you and undresses you an orange hand on your breast unless it’s you a purple simple hand on your hand is less than you you covered and recovered you Drinking water —Sampling station — A…Read more