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Magazine



A Public Space

No. 02

Lauren Redniss illustrates a star of the Ziegfeld Follies; Nam Le in Cartagena; Maile Chapman on the sinking of the Bit Forgive; Amy Leach on the dramatic life of the sea cucumber; Reality Invented: a portfolio on Russia by Natasha Randall with Andrey Platonov, Vladimir Arkhipov, Daniil Kharms, Olga Zondberg, and others; David Mitchell's Acknowledgements; poems by Laurie Sheck, Srikanth Reddy, Benjamin Paloff, and others; and introducing Corinna Vallianatos.

Table of Contents



 

If You See Something

Stop.

As of January 27, 2006, Western Union discontinued its telegram services, thus sounding the death knell for one of the first forms of more or less immediate long-distance communication.

Ander Monson


 

If You See Something

No

I was just watching Don Letts’ excellent punk documentary Punk Attitude, and within ten minutes it had underscored a very key idea: the punk spirit ultimately boils down to a resounding, life-affirming NO.

Michael Azerrad


 

If You See Something

A Practical Solution to an Inconvenient Truth

The artist Mary Mattingly started working on the Water Pod and the Wearable Water Home a few years ago: “I was just really scared.

Mary Mattingly


 

If You See Something

In Memoriam

I owed my father a thousand dollars for twelve years.

Christopher Sorrentino


 

Fiction

Acknowledgements

These 900 pages would not exist without Johnny Ball.

David Mitchell


 

Fiction

A Civilizing Effect

Edith told herself she wasn’t going to date now that she was a grandmother.

Corinna Vallianatos


 

Art

Century Girl: The Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies

Doris joined the Ziegfeld Follies Chorus at a salary of $10 a week.

Lauren Redniss


 

Poetry

from The World

He would have no objection to the study of nations.

Srikanth Reddy


 

Poetry

Two Poems

When we consider everything we’ve failed / to do, does it really matter that our progeny / will know us only by the lists of things / we intended to buy?

Benjamin Paloff


 

Poetry

Clouds

What and what and what and what / reiterate the clouds

Devin Johnston


 

Poetry

Trilce LVI

Everyday I wake blindly / to work so as to live

César Vallejo


 

Poetry

Two Poems

As if he once was someone’s son / but not now.

W. S. Di Piero


 

Poetry

Tea Party

There remain whispers. These were, are.

Bin Ramke


 

Poetry

Portami Il Girasole

Bring me the sunflower so that I might / transplant it into burning fields of alkali

Eugenio Montale


 

Poetry

Two Poems

Sarcastic reparations     find Chile on the map     find Oshkosh / find the family farm

Ann Lauterbach


 

Poetry

Notes on the Earth Seen from Space

Over and over the word fragile.

Laurie Sheck


 

Fiction

Bit Forgive

This morning I received a letter ostensibly from my friend Niklas Nummelin.

Maile Chapman


 

Fiction

Cartagena

In Cartagena, Luis says, the beach is gray at dawn.

Nam Le


 

Focus

Russia—Reality Invented

I used to think of Russia as a giant and unfortunate jellyfish—a hapless invertebrate, throbbing with ancient cells, which keeps having skeletons dropped on it from above: “Become this!”

Natasha Randall


 

Focus

The Macedonian Officer

As an ordinary ancient day began and the sun lit up the tense green of the country, Firs was summoned to the Tsar of Kutemalia.

Andrey Platanov


 

Focus

Home-Made

Vladimir Arkhipov is a self-taught artist who works in the genre of objects and installations.

Vladimir Arkhipov


 

Focus

Dragomoshchenko: Untitled

No one recognized me.

Arkadii Dragomoshchenko


 

Focus

Letters: A Translator and a Poet Discuss the Russian Language

You might have been expecting a note from me sooner than this!

Arkadii Dragomoshchenko


 

Focus

Schemata Rhetorica

some people passed across freshly fallen / wet snow and where their soles / touched down / the earth turned dirty black

Sergey Zavyalov


 

Focus

A Pseudoclassical Landscape

“A dangerous battle is taking place in the air…”

Elena Fanailova


 

Focus

Kuzmin: Untitled

in a TV report / about the victims of the war in Chechnya / there are shots from a hospital

Dmitry Kuzmin


 

Focus

The Soldier Ay Bee Cee

… along the shore of the noisy sea walked the soldier Ay Bee Cee.

Alexander Vvedensky


 

Focus

Two Poems

The old horseradish, he already longs For nothing, I mean, this strangeness.

Sergey Gandlevsky


 

Focus

Kharms: Untitled

How easy it is for a person to get tangled up in insignificant things.

Daniil Kharms


 

Focus

Passacaglia

The quiet water swayed at my feet.

Daniil Kharms


 

Focus

On Public Grounds

Come over here towards me, if you please.

Olga Zondberg


 

Focus

All Cities Are Now Identical

“In Europe, in past centuries, a judge put on a black hat to proclaim a verdict,” I tell the next group.

Olga Zondberg


 

Feature

Please Do Not Yell at the Sea Cucumber: Three Essays on Nature

We were each like a tree grown in a cage.

Amy Leach

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