The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
"ROMANTIC COMEDY"
a high pitched whistling noise emerges from the newsletter machine
Poems:
“What Happened to New York” by Anne Carson: A life-giving essay on the city, maybe a theatrical monologue – tilting toward autofictional, but on the other hand who is Howard? To mention that it is both funny and strange is to dismiss it, to say that it’s more than the sum of its parts is to lean so hard on more that the word collapses. The question is not “is it Anne Carson?” it’s “how does it Anne Carson?” – and maybe this one doesn’t Anne Carson with much slyness; it Annes in in a blast and Carsons out with jazz hands. It’s on a stage, which fits this city; it “plunges” with a neuroticism belied by its effortless cool belied by its questing intellect belied by its bilious belly. I’m not trying to Anne Carson all over your inbox, bye.
“her disquietude absorbed.” by C.D. Wright: An archival entry of some sort, since Wright has passed and this is taken from an upcoming compendium. Do I know what the hell this is about? Nah. It’s a slipknot, its meaning evading grasp, I don’t even know what it is to “absorb” disquietude – still, I’m absorbed; Wright asks the reader to “be” an object in the scene, still; stand while reading and you may feel time blowing you side to side.
Cartoons:
Here's where to find the cartoons, with credits, in order.
Cover: Kinda funny to commemorate this magazine, which as far as I know has always been letterpress-printed, with… a bunch of riffs on newspaper halftone dots? You can’t deny Niemann nails the brief, though. Hard to even pick a favorite.
Pg. 24: Whatever that stereotypical Italian couple is making, it can only possibly complement the taste of a hot slice.
Pg. 27 [Sketchpad]: Not annoying, but doesn’t do anything for me.
Pg. 31: Quite good, but mostly I’m struck by that goony little girl with one two-fingered arm thrust over the covers.
Pg. 35: MPJ today stands for Multiplication Prefigures Jostling.
Pg. 42: I like Business Pear.
Pg. 45: Everyone finds a way to complain. In Maryland the “Pleasant Room” is gigantic but it’s also renamed the Overcast And Sorta Dreary Room.
Pg. 49: I was once paid to be the videographer at an event where pharmaceutical representatives played rock songs. Some of them were disturbingly good.
Pg. 54: Very good, and weirdly profound if you look at it for too long. Best of the Week.
Pg. 58: If the magazine had gone all-in on having NYC jokes only, I’d give this a pass. But they didn’t, and it’s not very good.
Pg. 63: Strong. I like how the mom and the kid are making almost the same face.
Pg. 86: Dumb jokes about art history seem almost guaranteed to make the pages. This one is okay.
Pg. 92: How many men can you add to the desert island before it’s no longer recognizably the same gag?
Pg. 96: I knew the city’s denizens liked to talk about this shit with each other but until I got this current job I don’t think I realized that it’s truly the main source of small talk around here. Are we really so much better than the Californians?
Pg. 103: Bizarro-grim enough to avoid the label of “mid”, but certainly still a pets joke!
60 Years Ago Today
eggs bell peppers broccoli tofu dry pasta