Today’s featured writer |
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Read fiction by these authors |
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Ali Jimale Ahmed | Rolf Jacobsen (1907-1994) | |
| Jacob M. Appel | Tor Jonsson (1916-1951) | ||
| Jefferson Carter | Joshua Kwesi Knowlife | ||
| Padma Devkota | Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) | ||
| Nordahl Grieg (1902-1943) | Angel Uriel Perales | ||
| Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) | Michael Wynn | ||
Jacob M. Appel has published over 200 works. He is best known for his short stories, but in 2012 one of novels won the Dundee International Book Prize. In 2018, he published a collection of poetry. Read the title poem of that collection, 
When history is made
Hidden in the shadow of Napoleon’s stallion, a mother cries and a father despairs. Grand schemes and trampling boots intrude on our rooms and climb our stairs. You were the janitor standing 40 meters to the left of Martin Luther King when world suddenly silenced and his voice yelled «freedom ring». You sat on the […]
The Jukebox
The last man at the end of time has an infinte jukebox. The wind is dead, the stars faded, now remain the voices of yesteryears, vividly painting on his lonely canvas suspended in space, in a bar without walls. Guitars weep to the pulse of drums as a velvet curtain descends: one man, a bottle […]
Vacation
(the author’s own translation from Norwegian) The landscape is empty, free from demands, opinions and commentary. No bureaucrats lurk in the bushes, no case workers crowd the green valleys. There is barely phone coverage on the blue roof of the world. Out towards the waves I spot no journalists, and where the sea-gulls circle the […]
Vampire
(the author’s own translation from Norwegian) Moist like blood a signaling parasite behind the swaying roof of the forest, flapping wings sniffing snout Steam rises from the bogs and silhouettes in the moonlight suck life-force while you sleep. Michael Wynn
Wanderers
by Michael Wynn (the author’s own translation from Norwegian) They toil the inaccessible paths to find themselves, not to become pictures in an album. They dive the abyss because they don’t know who they are, not to be celebrated for their courage. They journey to distant stars because they mirror their hopes, not to construct […]
The Cynic in Extremis
by Jacob M. Appel You could never put one over on my uncle. He whiffed the treachery in Girl Scouts, Scoured his returned change for Canadian pennies, Steered clear of con games like synagogue And life insurance. His college education he invested in a tire shop, Listed in his wife’s name: Who would send A […]
RMS Lusitania Departs for Liverpool
by Jacob M. Appel Through a sea of bowlers and boaters and crinoline Glide the notables—stoop-shouldered Vanderbilt; Saurian, moon-crowned Frohman, drawing cheers. Reflected funnels ghost-dance in the uneasy surf. Brine steams off the jetty. Whistles like bayonets Saw passage for a neckless matron atop a sedan chair. Vendors in newsboy caps hawk forty-eight star flags, Cigars, […]
DISTORTIA
by Joshua Kwesi Knowlife Jumbled up unto one board All reality in a collage Thoughts hanging in doubt Feelings semi-deep inside The mind a walking John Doe The music like pills for pro-headache My vision blurred The future still untroubled…or so I want to believe Yet like a piece of cake where all should be […]
The State Of the Mind
by Joshua Kwesi Knowlife The mind can be a whole world Bigger the than universe Infinite in space It can be liquid It can be stone It can change into any state of matter Aurora borriellos? it could be alive anywhere as long as you crave it The mind can satisfy desires Just as it […]
Wadham College Chapel, Oxford
by Nordahl Grieg (1902-1943), a Norwegian poet during WWII, translated by John Irons. Pain fills the roar of the organ, and all the young wills are bowing low in fear and ache to realms that we know not of. Candles fl icker in darkness like daffodils cold is cowing, a hymn rises up to the […]
Skerry
by Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), translated by John Irons The boat’s now gliding towards the skerry, a sea-set island its shores green banding. Wild flowers grow here for no eyes intended stand unfamiliar and watch me landing. My heart becomes like a fabled garden with flowers the same as the ones I’m greeting. They talk together […]
Chaplin’s Hat
A children’s rhyme by Michael Wynn (the author’s own translation from Norwegian) With hat and frock, Chaplin wandered broke to the cafe where his lover drank and smoked Then the husband came, furiously provoked, and threw Chaplin’s hat on the ground quite stoked. Startled, Chaplin kicked before he spoke the old pig lost his stick, […]
Then rise up in me, loneness
by Tor Jonsson (1916-1951), translated by John Irons. Then rise up in me, loneness, storm my earth-life’s last entrenchment and spill my wasting-dream of human bliss. You chasm-dizzy earth, be other world than this tell all your secrets in this transluscent dawn where light abounds in this brief hour before death’s mighty day when loneness’ […]
Cultural Excursion
by Michael Wynn (the author’s own translation from Norwegian) Ulanbator-Bahamas there and back a stupor, a hangover and we’re back on track Noisy little brats, but still you smile, into the johns to vomit quite a while. “What are you doing in there so long? You shit! You filth! You washed out beer-bong!” Thanks I’m […]
Sand
Buy the full volume from Amazon. A free Reading Guide is also available: http://www.rogergreenwald.org/North-in-the-World-reading-guide.pdf
Guardian Angel
Buy the full volume from Amazon. A free Reading Guide is also available: http://www.rogergreenwald.org/North-in-the-World-reading-guide.pdf
London
by Nordahl Grieg (1902-1943), a Norwegian poet during WWII, translated by G.M. Gathorne-Hardy. I We lie in the dark and listen to the bombers passing by, To the song of their droning engines, like factories in the sky. High in the Milky Way great mills are busy-and then Down drops a load through the void, […]
New Nepalese Rats
Two rats met outside the drain hole. One rat said to the other, “Ratty, do you know something?” “What?” asked Ratty. “People of Nepal have decided to change everything old into something new. Isn’t that wonderful?” “Why, that’s great!” said Ratty. “I too was getting tired of the same old things to eat and the […]
Children of the World Unite!
The best thing about critical journalism is that you get to shed light on all the world issues without solving a single one. A cynical attitude towards life will come in handy in this respect. These were thoughts that went through my mind the other day when I understood that my four year old nephew […]
A Political Fairytale
A Political Fairy Tale Two politicians hit each on the head with a hammer and became mutually dependent on each other in order to maintain their ideologies. From that moment on their fate was sealed. Any statement that challenged this perception would now count as a betrayal in which a whole world view with its […]
The Trailor Murder Mystery
In the year 1841, there resided, at different points in the State of Illinois, three brothers by the name of Trailor. Their Christian names were William, Henry and Archibald. Archibald resided at Springfield, then as now the seat of Government of the State. He was a sober, retiring, and industrious man, of about thirty years […]
The Grand Concourse
by Jacob M. Appel To celebrate her sixtieth birthday—she is now older than her parents when they died—my mother asks to take a daytrip. She has okayed it with the shrinks, she says. Dr. Fradkin agrees a twelve-hour pass will do her good. “His first name’s Monty. Monty Fradkin. He’s quite a good looking young […]
Deception
Imagine traveling through space at lightening speed, exploring the deep recesses of the universe to unveil her deepest secrets. “Are we really alone?” is one of the most fundamental questions that future generations must explore. The questions really makes my heart beat. Somehow the notion of that grand future, of all those limitless possibilities makes […]