touched by angels

mary oliver, upstream

Richard Cartwright,The Messenger

The first time I remember encountering the work of Jon J. Muth (b 1960) was his two excellent children’s books, The Three Questions (2002) and Stone Soup (2003). Later I realized I had actually had seen his work before, I just didn’t recognize it as the same person. At the time, I didn’t know that Muth had started in comics, but his comic work is quite different from his children’s art. Muth had done the art for “Exiles,” the story included in the last collection of Sandman stories, The Wake. Everything finally became clear when I read the story “Big Sky” in Warren Ellis’ excellent Global Frequency. Originally published by Marvel in 1986, Muth’s Dracula is beautifully wrought and lovingly characterizes Lucy Seward and Mina Harker in particular. At times reminiscent of Barry Moser and Alan Lee, Muth’s gorgeous watercolors, paired with a minimalist and heavily modified adaptation of Stoker’s classic novel—part journal entries, part dialogue—comes across like the screenplay of a fever dream.

Bernhard Martin - Manhattan kann es nicht richten (oil on primed raw canvas), 2022

Rock Bottom, acrylic on panel, 24x18”. 2022. Daniel Merriam.

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, dir. Jonas Mekas, 2000.

my skin

"Dostoevsky as lover", Henrik Karlsson

Tony Hoagland, from “Dickhead”, Donkey Gospel

[Text ID: “tell me, / which constellation / looks like me? Which star / should I follow home?”]

Cristobal Hara

Gabriel Zaid, from "Circe" as featured in Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths

Budapest Dance Palace (today Budapest Operetta Theatre), Nagymező street, Budapest, 1958. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.