Schuylkill Valley Journal Online

Mussolini's Sex Life

essay

by Joseph Tyson III
Mussolini achieved notoriety as Italy’s head of state for twenty-one years.  By marshaling Fascist gangs, he overthrew Prime Minister Luigi Facta in October, 1922.  To quell widespread rioting, Mussolini requested and received emergency powers from the Chamber of Deputies.  He repaid members of parliament by abolishing representative government and establishing a one-party police state.

Spend your afternoon ruminating over the lines of these great poets. This selection features new work from Katherine Falk, Steve Nolan, Liz Chang, David P. Kozinski, and Matilda Bray recently submitted to the Schuylkill Valley Journal. 

by Brian Fanelli

At first glance, Kenneth Koch’s “The Circus” has several traits that are characteristic of his body of work and the New York School in general. The poem meanders into side conversations and is not without its humor. It also mixes high-brow culture, including name-dropping French painters, with personal memory and narrative. That said, at its core, the poem serves as a means for the poet to reflect upon his long career, while also exploring the way memory operates.

by Scott Edward Anderson

To get to Sourdough Mountain Lookout, you hike a good five miles, gaining 5000 feet or more of elevation. The terrain is rugged and the hiking strenuous, but that’s to be expected in the Northern Cascades. Located 130 miles northeast of Seattle, Washington, the Forest Service opened one of its first lookouts here in 1915.

by David P. Kozinski

When Lynnette Shelley was a tyke in kindergarten her class was offered various activities to participate in, at various stations around the room. The idea was for the children to be exposed to various educational pursuits. Shelley made a beeline for the visual art station and stayed there until she was gently but firmly moved along to try some of the other activities. No matter; a love affair, in the form of a healthy obsession, had begun and she has always returned to painting, drawing, and other visual media.

Packy & Backy 

by Allen X. Davis

You should be ashamed of yourself, complains the woman in the back seat to her husband-boyfriend. Doing something like that to a fifty-year-old woman. Her eyes are hidden behind dark sunglasses and you think bruises and black eyes yet she seems to be grinning ever so slightly. You’re taking them to the package store for more booze, then back home —their third packy & backy in two days. Hey, he declares, staring straight ahead, I told you nine fuckin’ times to shut your fuckin’ pie hole, but would you listen?