All of You on the Good Earth

Contents

Contents Prelude Dusk in the Ruins..................................................................................... 19 Sieges and Flights Sailing the Mullica River (Great Bay Estuary) 1978............................. 23 Ashore ........................................................................................................ 24 Drift............................................................................................................ 25 Kalypso....................................................................................................... 26 ∞................................................................................................................ 27 The Fast...................................................................................................... 28 Levavi Oculos............................................................................................ 29 Nights of 1998 ........................................................................................... 30 City-Scape Gentlemen’s Club, Queens................................................... 31 Dinner Flushed Down the Toilet............................................................ 32 Gravedigger’s Song ................................................................................... 33 Monsters Sunrise with Sea Monsters....................................................................... 37 Panthera..................................................................................................... 38 Goddess in the Shape of a Bird............................................................... 39 Dusk in a Crowded Train Compartment, Regretting My Life............ 40 4 a.m. Cab Ride..........................................................................................41 Outsider Art...............................................................................................42 “PAST PRESENT FUTURE”....................................................................43 Gratitude.....................................................................................................44 Stargazer Lilies...........................................................................................45 Green Line, West Philadelphia ................................................................46 An Aging Drunk Observes the Blizzard.................................................47 From Grub Street to the Brill Building Times Literary Supplement......................................................................51 Cover to Cover...........................................................................................52 Enemies and Co.........................................................................................53 For ___________ ......................................................................................54 Seneca at the Baths....................................................................................55 Rakewell in TriBeCa..................................................................................56 All of You on the Good Earth..................................................................57 Harmonia Sacra.........................................................................................58 Soprano’s Lament.......................................................................................59 Minor Considerations The Envelope, Please.................................................................................63 Sportsmanship .......................................................................................... 64 Why Must We Love?................................................................................. 65 A Legend about Cats................................................................................ 66 Reading the Runes.................................................................................... 67 “Good Taste Is the Excuse I’ve Always Given”...................................... 68 At the Archaeological Institute of America’s Annual Meeting........... 69 To the Dark Suburbs and Home Again Routes......................................................................................................... 73 Drop Out.................................................................................................... 74 Pirates ........................................................................................................ 75 Man’s Home, His Castle........................................................................... 76 Dredge........................................................................................................ 77 Home Security........................................................................................... 78 Waiting for the Stray ................................................................................ 79 Victorian.................................................................................................... 80 While You Were Out ................................................................................ 81 Dog Days (Caniculares Dies)................................................................... 82 City on a Hill............................................................................................. 83 Simple Instructions .................................................................................. 84 Meteorology .............................................................................................. 85 Bitter Beginning.........................................................................................86 Bonehead....................................................................................................87 Suburban.....................................................................................................88 Cold Wars and Hot Of Empires..................................................................................................91 Ie Shima, April 18th , 1945 .........................................................................92 On Boarding a Soviet Attack Submarine................................................93 “Let Me Live and I Will Give You an Empire” .......................................94 Wife of the Zeppelin Scientist..................................................................95 ...