Straight Up | Jan Herman

Change of Subject: Cold Turkey’s Latest Offer

Jan Herman — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:37:45 +0000

When syntax re-enacts meaning: " ... expect nothing / be surprised ..."

Rebuked! Say Good-bye to the Circus King!

Jan Herman — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 15:33:54 +0000

Voters tell Trump to go to hell in historic political tsunami.

Remember This When Voting in the Midterms . . .

Jan Herman — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:16:18 +0000

Caricature by Donkey Hotey

" data-large-file="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/STIFF-LOWER-LIP.jpg" />America's top shitholer goes whole hog at the public trough, and never mind the rest of us . . .

News from Moloko Print It Is Written: Times with Brion Gysin

Jan Herman — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 17:57:17 +0000

News from Moloko Print
It Is Written: Times with Brion Gysin" rel="nofollow">This book by Udo Breger depicts encounters with Gysin, shared journeys between London, Paris, Basel, Amsterdam, and New York, as well as conversations, projects, and moments that paint a portrait of this extraordinary man. It is a personal document, a space for remembrance, and at the same time an invitation to rediscover Gysin.

‘Ignorant, Bigoted, Self-Seeking, Blatant, and Dishonest’

Jan Herman — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 17:41:46 +0000

When William Jennings Bryan died, in 1925, H.L. Mencken wrote the most devastating obituary of an American politician you'll ever read—and that includes Hunter S. Thompson's farewell to Nixon. All you need to do is substitute "Trump" for "Bryan" to see how snug the fit will be when Trump takes his permanent leave.

Terri & Richard: Late-In-Life Sweethearts

Jan Herman — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 16:40:23 +0000

She was Bob Dylan's first manager in Greenwich Village and became a social activist. He was once a critic and became an avant-garde literary artist. Their story is told in a documentary short film by Alex Bijan Zandi.

The Midnight Express: NBA Finalist for Nonfiction

Jan Herman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 17:02:01 +0000

We've been following the trajectory of Colin Asher's take on the prison history of American music. Here's the latest. UPDATED

Together Again: Back for More Stupid

Jan Herman — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:42:31 +0000
Musk and Hegseth to make war music.

If I Could But See It A Dazzling Graphic Biography of William Morris

Jan Herman — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 19:10:13 +0000
If I Could But See It
A Dazzling Graphic Biography of William Morris" rel="nofollow">When a book such as this comes across the transom, my staff of thousands urges me to post a notice, even though I am far from an informed reviewer of graphic books. What I can do is extract some of the images to offer an impression of the artwork. The entire book dazzles the eye, while the story documents the life.

TIME TRAVELS: New and Old

Jan Herman — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 17:13:55 +0000
My day suddenly veered into a collection of new and old poems by A. Robert Lee. I didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be nothing less than a curriculum for life and learning, for pleasure, and for the intellect.

Untamed Pledge for the 2026 Elections

Jan Herman — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 15:41:02 +0000
An article in the French newspaper Le Monde about untamed literature, Cut Up or Shut Up, and "the 'Cut-Up' movement," drew a pledge 54 years later from S/U's Staff of Thousands.

What Is Poetry? ‘A glimpse of sun.’ — Jim Harrison

Jan Herman — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:30:45 +0000
I met Jim Harrison only once, in 1968, when we were on a "little magazine" panel with Russell Banks, Anne Waldman, and Charles Newman. Even then Harrison was a "character," a voluble personality who cut quite a figure.—wore a rakish straw hat, a black patch on his blind left eye, and sported a hand-carved walking stick.

‘Tribute in Light’ Phantom Presence of the Missing Twin Towers

Jan Herman — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 03:17:15 +0000
‘Tribute in Light’
Phantom Presence of the Missing Twin Towers" rel="nofollow">Screenshot
" data-large-file="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/9-11-tribute-in-light-9-12-26-750.jpg" />It first appeared six months after 9/11 as a public art installation and has appeared every year since. It is presented from dusk of Sept. 11 to dawn of Sept. 12. It's the most striking memorial to be seen, especially in person.

The Day the Twin Towers Vanished in a Shroud of Ash

Jan Herman — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:36:01 +0000
My report grew longer by the minute. It ran, updated in real time, as MSNBC.com’s cover story. The lede kept changing throughout the day. ... It was the scene of a nightmare ... people on fire jumping in terror from the towers ... the buildings collapsing ... splinters of debris falling from the sky like confetti ... deadly smoke blackening the air ... an exodus of thousands of New Yorkers coated in white ash streaming on foot for hours across the city's bridges.

Visions of ‘Ground Zero’ That Fell by the Wayside

Jan Herman — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:31:56 +0000
"I have seen the future and it is B-I-G. It is also tall, fantastical, memorial, ecological, symbolical, cultural, commercial, skyward, subterranean, park-like, Lego-like and — what seems most certain — futuristic, as in a long way off."

Myles & Waldman Performance Poets Together Again

Jan Herman — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 16:55:10 +0000
Myles & Waldman
Performance Poets Together Again" rel="nofollow">They go back a long way to the 1970s in New York, most notably to their participation in, and leadership of, The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

A Lost Poem Found

Jan Herman — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:07:07 +0000
'Born Black' was lost eight years ago.

Memory Pictures Coming In An Old Friend Is Gone Too Long

Jan Herman — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:58:00 +0000
Memory Pictures Coming In
An Old Friend Is Gone Too Long" rel="nofollow">Norman O. Mustill (from Twinpak)
" data-large-file="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Heres-lookin-at-you-self-portrait-from-TWINPAK-562x1024.jpg" />Norman Ogue Mustill was an extreme dissenter. Nothing pleased him more than reaming out the human race. His collages stopped you dead with their vicious satire, like the writings of William S. Burroughs. And for technical precision Max Ernst didn't do better.

Cold Turkey Press *#%&@#$*@%#*&#+@%$+ ! ! !

Jan Herman — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:17:47 +0000
Cold Turkey Press
*#%&@#$*@%#*&#+@%$+ ! ! !" rel="nofollow">If we call life a fabulous blur — as though it were a lark — even when our sorrows founder in the dark, let's just call it bad luck.

Cicero Sez

Jan Herman — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 18:40:59 +0000
My two years of high school Latin got me to Julius Caesar's account of his exploits in the Gallic war, written in a straightforward, rather simple style. Unfortunately, I never took third-year Latin, which would have got me to Cicero, whose style was more sophisticated, more complex, and thus more difficult. But I have read Cicero in English and his words of wisdom are eminently clear.