Where on the spectrum of loyalty and betrayal does song begin? And where does it end? I think each writer has to decide this over and over.
—
Sharon Olds
He Watched Me by James Purdy
- Two Poems by Daisy Zamora
- Two Poems by Daniel Flores y Ascencio
- Cockenoe by David Rattray
- The Hidden Anguish of the Mouseketeers by Gary Indiana
- Spring Training by Glenn O'Brien
- Not Many by Isabel de los Ángeles Ruano
- From “San Francisco Libre” by Isidro Fuentes Castillo
- Whatever Happens by Jacek Gulla
- He Watched Me by James Purdy
- Three Reels from Guatemala by Janet Rodney
- Cemetary by Joaquin Pasos
- The Following Myth of Romantic Suffering Has to be Done Away With by Kathy Acker
- Strands by Kimiko Hahn
- Three Poems by Leonel Rugama
- Three Poems by Margaret Randall
- To Fernando by Michele Najlis
- So You Understand Once and For All by Miguel Huezo Mixco
- Two Poems by Otto René Castillo
- During the Mornings by Raquel Melendez
- Deudas (Doubts) by Reina Maria Rodriguez
- Five Poems by Roque Dalton
- 8 by Roberto Obregon
- Enigmatic Salts by Roberto Sosa
- Estare aqui (I will be here) by Rene Castilla R.
- Five Poems by Rosario Murillo
- To Roosevelt by Rubén Darío
- Three Poems by Vidaluz Meneses
- Acceptance Speech by Julio Cortázar
- Dark Love by Aaron Zuckerman
- Two Poems by Ana Ilce
- Two Poems by April Bernard
- In the High Ceiling of Stars by Bradford Morrow
- Not Only the Smile Was Seen: Caprice by Carlos Martinez Rivas
- Laments in Space by Clementina Suárez
First Proof
- Warriors Have Funny Heads by Francesc Torres
- Untitled Photograph by Gianfranco Gorgoni
- Christ in the 21st Century by Gin Taylor
- Escena Campestre by Hilda Vogl
- Palm Sunday, Century City | L.A. by Hope Sandrow
- Red Mask by Hunt Slonem
- Jack by Ira Richer
- Completion of the Circle by Italo Scanga
- Open (Entrance/Exit) #2 by James Ford
- Montezuma by James Nares
- Seated Woman by James Perry Walker
- Three Photographs by Jean-Marie Simon
- Untitled Drawing by Jim Kopp
- Elios Bailan by June Beer
- Blind Man’s Bluff by Vitaly Komar & Alexander Melamid
- Keon by Lan Payne
- The Long Prayer I, II by Lee Quinones
- Ancestor by Luis Frangella
- Ranas by Maka
- Two Photographs by Manuel Alvarez Bravo
- Two Paintings by Martha Diamond
- Nkrigom by Nick Ghiz
- Untitled Painting by Pam Wye
- San Pedro Lake, Atitlán Guatemala by Phyllis Galembo
- Death Flaunts Its Lover by Richard Hoffmann
- Untitled Photograph by Amanda Means
- Protection en la Tormenta by Carlos Arias Vicuna
- Macho Raton con Paisajes by Carlos Montenegro
- Woyzek by Edward Brezinski
- The Mad Sea Captain Charts a Course Up the Amazon by Richard Mock
- Two Sculptures by Ruth Vollmer
- Three Photographs by Susan Meiselas
- Camellian by Tina Girouard
- Female Acrobats by Tom Otterness
- Sketches by Joe Lewis
More
When at last I saw him
I could not say
Turn away your gaze.
He watched me
and I could not turn away:
held as if blinded by the sight.
I could not say
Turn away your gaze.
He watched me
as he doffed his clothes
from across a city street away
he watched me
with his eyes ablaze
each garment rapidly disposed
his eyes then sought only me
our rooms so separately far
were suddenly close
Then he had nothing on at all
not one stitch
except his eyes so full of zeal
clothed him you might say
with heavenly light
Naked
as he watched me
he seemed to say
I am prepared for you
but you are far away
He watched me
there is no more to say
Related
On June 23, 1962, in Mansfield, Ohio, the brutal murder of two young girls led to the arrest of Jerrell R. Howell, who admitted to the killings after a struggle to force them “to perform oral sodomy.”
After seeing my first Michael Haneke film, I left the theater sick to my stomach. Perhaps this is not the most obvious compliment to pay a director, but there is a visceral effect to Haneke’s work that I would be remiss in not sharing.
Pipilotti Rist is a master at combining environments, imagery, sound, and video to create an alternate reality.
Originally published in
BOMB 9,
Spring 1984
Nicolas Echevarria, Pam Yates, art by James Nares and Tom Otterness, writing by Daisy Zamora, Kathy Acker, Glenn O’Brien, and more.
