Poem: Jagged
Jagged Patrick T. Reardon The shoeless guy sleeping on the McDonald’s bench along the north windows is the god of still waters. The unfocused one, rocking over his [...]
Book review: “Blake: A Biography” by Peter Ackroyd
Laboring in obscurity two centuries ago, William Blake is now considered one of the great figures of English poetry and a brilliant idiosyncratic visual artist. The story of his life, [...]
Essay: Listening with a hearing heart
Back in the 1950s, there was a TV series called The Millionaire. The idea was that, each week, a rich guy would give away $1 million to someone he’d never [...]
Poem: In those years
In those years Patrick T. Reardon In those years, everyone at the paper knew the name of the Cook County Coroner. Knew what could be written and not. [...]
Book review: “Fiddlers” by Ed McBain
On July 6, 2005, Evan Hunter died of laryngeal cancer at the age of 78 at his Weston, Connecticut home. He was called Salvatore Lombino at birth. Later, he legally [...]
Book review: “Son of Nobody” by Yann Martel
What was Yann Martel thinking? I’m talking about the title of his new novel Son of Nobody, a double-barreled story of a lost epic about the Trojan War and of [...]
Poem: O, brothers
O, brothers Patrick T. Reardon O, mother. O, father. O, brother self-gone. O, gentle mechanic. O, woman of thunderhead. O, sleeper on the el train bassinette. [...]
Poem: Here I Am
Here I am Patrick T. Reardon Precious ointment, good name. Day of death is true north. Day of birth is first step. Feast when possible, mourn always, knowing [...]
Book review: “Farmer in the Sky” by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein’s 1950 Farmer in the Sky has its moments — good and bad. Or, maybe better put, it has its good and bad moments for a reader like [...]
Book review: “Field Guide to Illinois Mammals” by Joyce E. Hofmann
The new edition of Joyce E. Hofmann’s Field Guide to Illinois Mammals is sturdy and beautifully packaged, savvy and erudite. It’s easy to hold in your hand while out in [...]