Author name: Jonathan Kelly

Twenty-Seven Club, & other poems

Hybrid, Poetry / By

we have been released into nothing morethan mere ritualshorter days warmer monthsnew discoveries year after year this truth starts firing

for fear of trial, we lose the fightlord drag us back to the gutterwhere all things weak break free—

Excerpts from “Leaving La Lavandería”

Poetry / By

amnesia of interrogation
amnesia of incommensurate cant
amnesia of commandeering enough space
to bring the sleeves in and collar the hem

imagine but do not pretend
these brimful automatons all mouth
these dismal prodigies
represent the sole order we’ve ever known

The Sacrificial Man

Nonfiction / Criticism / By

The difference is that the sacrificial man continues to do so indefinitely, continually postponing his own ill-defined moment of sacrifice. In reality, like Oedipus he avoids any situation which may call for it. The sacrificial man only agrees that at some point in the future his life may need to be forfeited. The sacrificial man is at heart a coward.

There Are Better Ways for Societies to Address Inflation Than by Hiking Interest Rates

Nonfiction / Criticism / By

As usual, the profit-driven concerns of big business and their result—a remarkably selective historical amnesia—fuel the silence about alternative anti-inflation policies. So too do the right-wing ideological blinders that now constrict U.S. politics. Yet, policy alternatives always exist, no matter how desperately partisans promoting one policy seek to obliterate debate and discussion of others. The narrow dogmatism of U.S. politics these days is on full display around the issue of an anti-inflation policy focused on raising interest rates.