THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE BEAUTY: Dappled Things, the Catholic literary magazine which accepted many of my earliest published short stories, really needs your financial help to continue. If you like what I write, just think how many other Catholic writers and artists are out there for you to discover! Daniel Mitsui, whose intricate black-and-white illustrations are like Graeme Chapman* + MC Escher = icons, is also offering an artwork exclusively for DT donors. (Uh, or at least he was last time I checked. You should ask them!)

[* ETA: Oh LOL! Graeme Base. Clearly my memory is pining for the fjords.]

I know with the economy so bad, it's tempting to neglect the arts in your giving. But you could, for example, get the Mitsui print or a DT subscription as a Christmas gift, thus feathering two birds with one dollar! And all of us need beauty, too, in order to live.

Survival is the least of my desires.
--Dorothy Allison

IN THE EUSTON TAVERN THEY SCREAMED IT WAS YOUR SHOUT/BUT THEY WOULDN'T GIVE YOU SERVICE, SO YOU KICKED THE WINDOWS OUT. Am I wrong to find a Pogues-ish hint in this poem?

"STORY WITHOUT A NAME": I have a poem-type thing in the current issue of Dappled Things.