Original Poem: RICHARD PRYOR ON THE SUNSET STRIP, 1982: AN EXEGESIS
Sean MurphyI consider Richard Pryor's Live in Concert ('79) the single best stand up special in history. But Live on the Sunset Strip is possibly more important (maybe even better, if…
Original Poem: Lightnin’ Hopkins’s Bottle
It's a thrill to once again grace the pages of The Blue Mountain Review. As someone who runs an exceedingly modest (though sublimely designed -- thanks again to 1455 Creative…
Celebrating Sue Mingus
Sad to hear the news of Sue Mingus's passing, but am here to celebrate an incredible life fully led, with adventure and passion to spare. And for us jazz fans…
Barbara Ehrenreich and the Dignity of Labor
image via The Nation It seems specious, even disingenuous, to suggest that a well-known, best-selling author is both underrated and insufficiently read. As it happens, Barbara Ehrenreich, one of the…
August 2002 – August 2022: Sanctuary
I visited my mother’s grave the first several years for the same reason I used to attend church: it was expected, it was meant to make me feel better, it…
August 2002 – August 2022: Three Poems
The Things Prepping for a Colonoscopy Procedure Prepares You For… The pre-procedure, a to-do list equal parts ordealand ritual preparing you for what will happen, is A preparation of sorts…
August 2002 – August 2022: Gifts & Blessings
i. August 2002 - August 2022 Twenty years. I’m of course of a certain age (and have been for some time now) that just about any event may seem like…
For My Mother on Her Birthday
I’m scared, I said. “It’s okay,” she said. “You know I’ll never leave you, right? I would never leave this place without you.” How many times did she tell me that?…
Please Talk about Me When I’m Gone
MY MOTHER EVENTUALLY became acquainted with the white-walled world of procedures and all that happens—before, during, after and beyond: Hope and fear, faith and then despair, the nagging need to…
Original Poem: Chet Baker’s Smog
It remains a blessing for this writer to find publications that “get” him --and what I'm attempting with my ongoing project (the first installment, of course, being The Blackened Blues,…