Goines On: Sinning

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A niece of Goines emailed him that she wished they hadn’t made the vicar in the new season of Grantchester “quite so weak sinfully.” Goines and his wife hadn’t watched it yet, but they decided to catch it that evening. And when he told her what his niece had complained of, Mrs. Goines told him what the first vicar she had ever heard had to say about churches. Goines realized instantly that this was the stuff limericks are made of:

All Over the Place: I lie about food

By Michael H. Brownstein

I lie about eating.
Don’t eat that,
my wife says,
that’s not good for you,
you’ve had enough.
She asks,
What are you eating now?

Movie Review: Midsummer Desert 2019

Midsommar: The worst movie ever?

By Jonathan Price

We live in a movie desert. Those of us not fortunate enough to live in LA or New York or some other hub of creative movie theater distribution encounter a summer full of sequels or remakes, no longer just the second or third, but now the fourth or perhaps the tenth. Or we can learn the sordid details about nearhistorical events with which we are mostly familiar. Or we can see the fantastic monsters created by CGI, or their mighty and clever semihuman superantagonists, who use wit and special weapons and skills to defeat them. Into this theater desert enters a film with an “o” and an “ar” in its spelling of midsummer, and I’m hooked by my attraction to foreign films, and to the memories of great Swedish movies.

Goines On: Longevity

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Goines was starting not to think of Mrs. Goines as “nagging” him. The truth was that most of the time she was giving him useful advice – about getting exercise, avoiding contamination of his sinus rinse, protecting his medications from the moisture of the kitchen, and quite a few other things that she stayed on top of more closely than he was always comfortable with.

Fiction: Jaudon – An American Family (a novel) [6]

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Chapter 6. Rio Grande

True to his word, Rafael spoke to Juan about giving his daughter’s hand in marriage. Juan wasn’t happy about it, but, J.F., as James now wanted to be called, wasn’t someone who took being told no lightly. While Juan’s daughter Juana was sweet, gentle, and loving, J.F. Jaudon was hard and in some cases cruel.
    Juan cared for and loved his daughter a great deal, but in the end, the welfare of the whole family came first. Juan, at 40 years old, would have a hard time finding another job if he were let go from the ranch.

Goines On: The human head

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On his walk this morning, Goines saw a human head lying in the grass alongside the house ahead. He realized in the next half-second that it wasn’t a head but rather a possibly over-inflated football. People, especially children, left all manner of things out in their yards overnight.

All Over the Place: Wild weeds that flower

By Michael H. Brownstein







The carcass is a meadow.
Love slugs and crows,
Maggots and an incessant humming.
Tourniquets are made with these materials
And asphalt, teeth, metal sculpture.

Poetry & Portraits: Elektra

Drawing by Susan C. Price

Elektra
By Eric Meub

They call me Amber. You can hazard why –
Some rock you rub on fur to make sparks fly.
And I’ve been rubbed, all right: Dad went to war;
Mom found herself a dandy (she’s a whore).

Goines On: All us creatures

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Goines could still remember a dream he had the year he was twenty-two, while taking a nap on a delightful, rainy Spring afternoon in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

Fiction: Jaudon – An American Family (a novel) [5]

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Chapter 5. Guadalupe River

By the time the U.S. Army decided to address the Indian problem, the 200-300 Comanches had stolen a reported 3,100 head of cattle in New Mexico. Many had been stolen from Mexicans and were never reported, so the count could be much higher. But there is no way of telling how many cattle crossed the Texas border.

Mary’s Voice: Posthumously Speaking 13

Detail “San Simeon Lighthouse”

San Simeon Lighthouse 
& Cabin in the Mountains

By Mary Alice Condley (1925-2007)

[Editor’s Note: We are grateful to Maryjo Williams for sharing two more paintings by my sister Mary Alice Condley. Maryjo is the daughter of Chloe, a sister of Mary’s husband, Elbert O. Condley.

Sketches from the Twin Cities: Hennepin Day Parade

June 7, 2019

By Geoffrey Dean

The fire trucks up in Anoka
Are white like fresh-bleached from the soaka’.
    So shiny and new,
    Lights flashing in blue —
Father Hennepin’s parade is no joka.

Goines On: Back yard in emptiness

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It was evening, and night was quickly darkening. A wave of sadness enveloped Goines as he walked out to the compost bin in his back yard to empty the day’s accumulation of unused vegetable matter – rinds and peelings of fruits and vegetables, plum pits, apple cores, mildewed bits of lettuce, coffee grounds.

All Over the Place: Turning into a ghost

After a Jewish tradition

By Michael H. Brownstein








One moment you feel a weight of gravity,
A blanket, for example, the first light,
A slight draft and then, out of focus,
You come into yourself and understand
The confusion of ghosts. How unsettling to be

Fiction: Jaudon – An American Family (a novel) [4]

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Chapter 4. San Antonio

1866. On March 13, the United States Congress overwhelmingly passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans.
    On March 27, U.S. President Andrew Johnson vetoes the bill.
    On April 9, Congress overrides the veto.
    That year, the first big cattle drive takes place over the Chisholm Trail. Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving round up wild longhorn cattle and, with other ranchers, drive them to Kansas.

The Jaudon party rode into San Antonio with high expectations. James and Rafael led the wagon this time and were prepared for trouble. This was their last stop before heading into the backcountry.