The Phoenix on Writing
Evolution
by Hadley Franklin
Wednesday April 4, 2007
In bio class, I split open a rat’s skull
with three fingers of each hand
digging between the lateral slice of skin,
prying apart the cranial seam.
I wore gloves, but the latex
didn’t numb the bone splintering,
or the hopeful resistance of muscle,
or the damp pearl of brain.
I was man, a meaty toolbox
of love, opposable thumbs,
fist-tight line breaks, and shame.
I was man, I was a brutal
half-nelson, a mean right hook,
an intoxicated fuck in the honey dark
of your parents’ bed.
“The Butterfly Collection”
by Michelle Koufopoulos
Wednesday April 4, 2007
Michelle Koufopoulos offers commentary on various photographs from the collection of Diane Arbus.
The Conflict
by John Powell
Thursday February 15, 2007
If Holden Caulfield wore a banana suit,
he would be my spitting image.- outwardly
foolish while inside dances Socrates
on acid. I am yellow fruit yet my meat is
common philosophy. You may look
at me and laugh because who dresses
like that? But if you walk with me
through the neighborhood, I’ll compose you
a sonnet and you’ll melt
like forgotten chocolate in my jeans.
You’ll see the strangeness is really just a way
to single me out in the tree tops. There is conflict
in my smoky head. I can’t decide
if I want to walk you all the way back to my sofa,
let you peel me in your hands. Truth is,
I want to pluck you from your stem and chew you
until I can swallow. I want to plant my seed
in foreign soil and see what hybrid sprouts
when Spring arrives and I meet my love for
the second time.
Celebrating Walt Whitman
by Sonnet Graham
Tuesday February 7, 2006
"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,/ And what I assume you shall assume,/ For every atom belonging to me/ As good belongs to you." Walt Whitman wrote those words in 1855, over 150 years ago, but last week Suzanne Gardiner and other SLC staff and students gave them a new voice.
Llámame Brooklyn
by Amanda Rivkin
Tuesday February 7, 2006
Eduardo Lago’s ambitious debut novel, Llámame Brooklyn (Call Me Brooklyn), begins in the same place it ends: a remote cemetery in Fenner’s Point, Brooklyn. Death is the constant thread throughout a novel in which one young writer must complete the novel of Gal Ackerman, an older and recently deceased friend.
Eduardo Lago
by Amanda Rivkin
Tuesday February 7, 2006
"The only way to teach literature is by sharing a passion for reading," Eduardo Lago said. As a professor at Sarah Lawrence since the fall of 1993, he sees himself as being in a position of privilege because, "I get to read and share a passion for literature with young people."
Literary magazine makes campus debut
by Caroline Sterne
Monday November 14, 2005
A new student literary publication has burst onto the Sarah Lawrence College scene. The Little Jackie Paper (or The LJP) was thought up by a group of juniors while they were studying abroad, and they have followed through with it. The aim of the LJP is to “focus on and promote unrestricted dialogue and free public art.”
Different but not alone; artists unify at ‘Diverge’ event
by Laurel Fantauzzo
Wednesday October 12, 2005
Diverge sought artistic unity through a variety of performers on Sept. 29, bringing formalist, slam and musical poetry to the Heimbold Theater.
Faculty Recognized in Best Anthology
by Keegan Finberg
Thursday September 29, 2005
Twenty-three New York poets of varying age, style, and background took the stage at Manhattan’s New School in the launch reading for Scribner’s The Best American Poetry 2005 on Sept. 15. Among those honored with inclusion in the anthology were two members of Sarah Lawrence’s creative writing faculty, Matthea Harvey and Dennis Nurkse.
