“On the Pills, Off the Pills” by Kevin Catalano

On the Pills (Riding the Long, Cool Wave through the Dark Gap) 7.5 mg/325 mg oxycodone and acetaminophen (Percocet); 5 mg/5000 mg hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen (Vicodin); 5 mg hydromorphone (Dilaudid oral liquid); 60 mg oxycodone (OxyContin); 50 mg meperidine (Demerol); 65 mg propoxyphene (Darvon); 30 mg codeine sulfate (Codeine); 60 mg morphine sulfate extended […]

Review: Last Call in the City of Bridges

The Reviewed: Last Call in the City of Bridges by Salvatore Pane The Reviewer: Joellyn Powers *** Pittsburgh is obviously the best city in the world, and Salvatore Pane’s debut novel, Last Call in the City of Bridges, speaks right to my yinzer-lovin’ soul. The imagery is spot-on: there is the Squirrel Hill tunnel that opens […]

Four poems by Ali Berman

In Defense of Profanity in Poetry If Ginsberg had written penis instead of “cock,” or anus instead of “ass,” it would be as if, clawing closer to his partner’s body, he said, “Let’s have intercourse,” instead of, “let’s fuck,” when frankly, fucked is what he intended to get, crass and common as the flu, lovely […]