Even when Death inhabits a poem, he does not own it. He is a squatter. In fact, Death owns nothing. – Todd Moore
THE PASSIONATE STRUGGLE INTO CONSCIOUS BEING — Richard Poirier my car, my ’98 Toyota Corolla, was broken into. i’d walked to it with my colleague from the college in the ghetto, i’d seen a car with smashed windows, and took Continue reading The passionate struggle into conscious being by Rich Quatrone
BOTTOM’S BOTTOM Inventing plot was not Shakespeare’s gift; it was the one dramatic talent that nature had denied him. — Harold Bloom Mid December. Is this one long death I find here? What love will come through my window when Continue reading Bottom’s Bottom by Rich Quatrone
RICH QUATRONE is a poet and playwright living in Spring Lake, NJ. He was educated at Rutgers College and Mason Gross School of the Arts, both at Rutgers University. He and Lorraine Quatrone founded PASSAIC REVIEW in 1979, inspired by Continue reading BLACK LIVES by Rich Quatrone
FOR POETRY Today is for poetry. Only for poetry. The world of money to hell. Today is for pleasure. Only for pleasure. For internal wandering. For rest and ecstasy. For vision and memory. Today is for genius. For birthright. Today Continue reading For Poetry by Rich Quatrone
LOOK UP, UP IN THE SKY! They just have too much money, that is the problem. Too much spare change. Too much extra cash on hand. They can’t sit still. They just have to… do. Something, anything. Seeking “entertainment” is Continue reading Look Up, Up In The Sky by Rich Quatrone
COULD SHE? Could she be as lovely as I say she is? With eyes so wide and clear and true, eyes that pierced me through and through? Could she be as warm and funny as I think she is? A Continue reading Could She? by Rich Quatrone
PRETTY Scene One: LETME is alone on stage. She speaks. LETME For all you know I’m a woman. This is what you see and what you think. This is what I tell myself. This is what I have been told. And Continue reading Pretty by Rich Quatrone
SEEKING TRANSCENDENCE So we do it in private mostly. Because we know damn well in public everyone is held down by money and activity. We know everyone is running to some place to just basically get lost. And we do Continue reading Seeking Transcendence by Rich Quatrone
BODY MAGIC The body is a magical instrument after Baraka had you laughing in bed with his wondrous verse you lay there with the world inside you the happy world spinning while the ghouls and their Main Ghoul in what Continue reading Body Magic by Rich Quatrone
ODE TO ROXANNE RAE for my brother This brilliant metaphor unites sex with aesthetics. — Camille Paglia Where are you, Camille, when I need you? Did you ever see Roxanne Rae going through her paces? Tonight she was getting fucked by Continue reading Ode To Roxanne Rae by Rich Quatrone