California State University (CSU): Open Journal Systems

Hinson, Randall

American Academy of Poets Winner-- Randall Hinson 
Perfect Saturday Night 
Looked out through the window 
with paint on the pane, 
the phone on mg shoulder, 
qour voice 
trails off 
between brush strokes 
and the hiss 
of interference 
through the line. 
ijou have a headache too. 
ijou miss him at night. 
But the work keeps gou busy, 
Lonely. 
So what about coffee? 
ln the same cafe bg the tracks 
wheregougo 
lwo, three times a dag, 
just to break monotony. 
l,)ou can smoke in the bar 
and run into the cab driver 
who sometimes gets the check 
so you'll talk with him. 
Their plywood walls. 
The popcorn machine. 
A jelly omeleHe and coffee. 
Later, we can go bowling 
With six of your friends. 
They'll call up the girl 
who closes her eyes 
and talks, 
Wears her lOO% silk shirt 
on backwards. 
Maurice who rides 
a bicgcle. He'll show 
\lou his broken sculpture 
of melted crayon wax. 
'10night, 
we'll score over 'ZO, 
pile in the two door 
of the bog with a lead patch, 
cancer in his eyes, 
and get stoned. 
'ijou can look out 
the steamy window 
at the storm drain, 
pissing on the hood, 
feel mg heart beating faster_ 
Bg five when lleave, 
you'll be too tired 
to remember him. 
lJou'll run out of records 
to play, things 
to paint.4o 
wash the lipstick 
from your face. 
'10morrow, 
we'll meet again 
at the cafe, for vanilla cokes, 
and hot fudge sundaes. 
Tbe Nortbridge Review 
151 


English

Perfect Saturday Night

Cole, Chris

155 
Dinner, and Other Things 
Chris Cole 
Phil .. "Is a table needed? ShaUl bring glasses? lf one were required to purchase a 
fork will spoons be provided? These questions must be asked, for you have invited me to din .. 
ner. l eat my dinner in layers of stacked quantities; salad, bread, meat, soup. l value quantity, 
there is evidence in quantity. But interruptions are prevalent here, which prevents me from 
responding to your invitation:· .. Interruption l .. "No one has invited you to dinnerl They 
only asked you for directions to dinnerl" 
Interruption 2 .. "IDhy would someone ask you to dinner, friend? l.]ou obvi .. 
ously have no sense of social grace?'' 
Interruption 3 .. "l too believe in being asked to dinner. l.]ou have asked 
some very appropriate questions." 
Dinner must shift from its casually elegant mannerisms to a propelled atmosphere that 
shuns disguises and well meaning blood soaked prime .. rib plates. Dinner must acknowledge 
the cavities of the body as its primal source of in and out goodness. Dinner must free itself 
of table cloths, seated cushions, and napkins. For they are the well meaning accessories which 
provided us with such details as a 28.00 dollar shrimp and steak plate. Dinner must.... 
Phil.. "l.]es, of course l accept your invitation regardless of what those obnoxious fel .. 
lows say. They've probably never dined in their lives. They've reduced themselves to ham .. 
burgers and malt liquor beer. IDell of course my questions concerning the table and glasses 
were relevant, many restaurants have liHle to do with such 19th century technicalities as spoons 
and knives. The majority of restaurants allow the customer to create their own unique dinning 
experience:· 
The Restauranteurs Convention which is held yearly at the Savanioug Convention 
Center took issue with the changing concept of "the dining experience:· Jack Derof, a restau .. 
rant consultant specializing in "dining alternatives" was this years key note speaker. He stated, 
"For the past 25 years we in the restaurant business have assumed that the overwhelming 
issue to contest with is the quality of the food we serve customers. The way in which food 
\Vas prepared and accessorized was highly contested and subject to much debate, but now 
fellow restauranteurs as they say times have changed. IDe are confronted with a society 
IVhose emphases has shifted from the pleasures associated with taste to a culture which ques .. 
tions the assumptions of what the dining experience should involve. IDhat this means ladies 
and gentleman is the customer will no longer willingly comply with such traditional staples as 
Tbe Nortbridf]e Review 
156 cbris cole 
tables, waiters, and chairs, etc.,... IDe as restauranteurs must be willing to confront this situati011 
head on. IDe can no longer deny the shift in our customers' needs. I have been director of 
research and development for Hansen Restaurants for the past seventeen 1Jears and I haue 
personalllJ seen this dramatic increase in customers' demand for a more stimulating dining 
experience. I shall review a variel'IJ of ideas mlJ team has developed in addressing this nell> 
demand." 
IDEA l .. Individual vs. Customer 
"Individuals will no longer tolerate being referred to as customers. IDhlJ, lJOU ask? 
Our research indicates that manlJ people feel it reduces them onllJ to a SlJStemized product 
which is there onllJ to be served and disposed of within a specificalllJ alloHed time. The 
word "customer" formulates a holistic self that eliminates any possibilil'IJ of diversifuing into 
other areas of the social strata. IDhen the waiter or waitress hands the individual a menu theq 
are leaving the individual no choice but to regulate themselves to a specific, confining identitlj• 
the palJing customer. Also the social enforced "dining time," which of course remains unstated, 
creates a machine .. like atmosphere which affects various aspects of the dining experience, 
from the taste of one's food to the abilil1J to carr1J on a interesting conversation. IDe conducted 
a stud1J which anallJzed the relationship between time and the taste of food. One test group 
was given 20 minutes to eat a New 'ijork steak and the other group was given 45 minutes to 
eat the same cut of meat. The meat was identicalllJ prepared for each group. The 45 minute 
group gave the dish an 82 percent approval rating while the 20 minute group gave the meal 
onllJ a l percent approval rate. This statistical evidence indicates that time has a much greater 
effect on the qualil'IJ of a meal than we had been led to believe." 
A man from the audience stands and interrupts Mr. Derofs address, "Excuse me, bul 
might this enormous statistical discrepanclJ have something to do with the fact that one group 
was told to eat under the threat of gunpoint and the others were not?'' 
Mr. Derof replied, "IDe have 1Jet to anal1Jze that aspect of the studlJ. Please do nol 
interrupt again." 
Interruption .. "'ijea, I was at that R.estauranteurs Convention, some gulJ pointed 
out that one of the test groups had a gun pointed to their head which "greatllJ affected the 
subject's response." Sounded like some sort of gag, might have been a set up, I don't know. 
"Hey, where's the fuckin' ketchupl" 
Dinner never meant much but peas and white wine, for white bread sirloin llJpes with 
a feel for clean finger nails and airlJ neck ties. Napkins were alwalJS present, but never need" 
ed. Their outer lips were never confronted with a bit of slopplJ potato or mustard sauce. The 
mouth's outer skin was kept clean, it was used for other things. The food was alwalJS eaten. No 
one once refused it. 
cbris cole 157 
Mr Derof s Individual vs. Customer scenario.. Door opens, individual enters the 
restaurant. Speakers are placed at the corners of the four walls. The speakers speak, 
"U}elcome, please instruct us." The individual asks to be prepared as a dish. The speakers 
ask him to lay on a platform which has emerged from the far right wall. The speakers ask the 
individual to explain their request, so it might be used to gauge population trends. "I have 
always consumed the food that has been prepared for me. I am bored by this procedure, this 
repetitive action which l have never once questioned. I wish to experience the entree's point 
of view. To be treated as an object that someone is paying to consume." .. UJhat is occurring 
in this brief instance? Is it a capitalistic\sexual\power plea? The words, "paying;' "con .. 
sume," "objec,t" arrange this subject into a three .. eyed dye, that refuse to fuse all three terrains 
of knowledge/ desire into one complete "Happy 25th Anniversary" greeting card. The dye 
rolls "capitalistic:· 
CAPITALISTIC 
The grocery store owner questions the thickness of the canned tomato sauce which he 
has placed in aisle four. Can it be thicker than a dollar bill, he asks himself? This question 
annoys him. Five minutes pass. He realizes that he is a grocery store owner who has just ques .. 
tioned the thickness of tomato sauce in relation to a dollar bill. This annoys him further. A cus .. 
tomer enters the store. The customer places a 5.00 dollar bill and two boxes of Twinkies on 
the counter. "The Twinkies are free," says the owner. The customer smiles. "And everything 
else to, take as much as you like:· The customer runs through the store, grabbing as much as 
he can. The customer leaves, still smiling. UJithin 2 hours the store is cleaned out. He is 
pleased. He is no longer a grocery store owner, just a store owner. He lights the carpet on fire. 
The fire spreads throughout the vacant store. 45 minutes pass. He has no store left. The store 
is no longer a store but a space in which he may use to exact a precise stance that has evaded 
him due to tomato cans and other debatable accessories. He thinks. 
IDEA 2.. "Let's go out to Dinner:· .. A PHRASE lN DISPUTE 
Jack Derof.. "Does this request have any significant power left to initiate social, sexu .. 
al, or business contacts? Our research indicates that the phrase "Let's go out to Dinne,r" is 
currently viewed as an outdated approach to social interaction. 'Bq in large people view it as 
"pseudo .. 50's pleasantness" that crops up sporadicallq when the public is confronted with a 
social, sexual, or economic crisis. The phrase symbolizes stability and cohesion which many 
People cling to, to ease their fears. IDe will demonstrate the use of this phrase by playing a 
bit of 50's nostalgia ourselves. Roll it Steve "A screen descends from the curtains. The 
faces are white and young. Their bodies are made of clothing; sweaters, t .. shirts, and jeans. 
Only their necks, hands, and faces look human. Theq require speech to be believed .. 
lie .. "Can I ask you something?" 
Tbe Nortbrid{Je Review 
158 chris cole 
Sh "I"'! 'h d" e .. ea . 
He.. "Na, forget it." 
She .. "No, what we're gou gonna ask me?'' 
He .. "IDell, would gou, na, gou'll just sag no:· 
She .. "Just ask me:· 
He.. "IDell, how'bout gou and me go out to dinner some time:' .. Can this be looked at in 
terms of handball? Each request or response is constructed as a small blue rubber ball which 
is hit and consumed bg a wall. The wall resembles each of the clothed figures. The game 
begins; ball/ phrase.. Can 1 ask gou something- ---.. The ball is unsure. He recognizes 
the ball is limp. 1t is a childish plea which he thought would help him get awag from girlie 
magazines and foul language. He tries to relax himself as the ball is about to be swallowed or 
rejected. She is quite familiar with this ball/ phrase. 1ts smell and motion is a distinct mixture of 
naiuete and aggressiue sweat. She opens her mouth to accept it. IDhg? She feels these tgpes 
of phrases haue possibilities. Though she is aware of what this phrase will euentuallg lead to, 
she enjogs it for its single nature. 1t mag stillleaue her the abilitg to escape with a chance. She 
reconfigures the ball/ phrase in terms of allowing him to ask his question. She waits a few sec .. 
onds though, letting her possibilitg at another scenario last a bit longer. She responds.. q 
o'head--.. -... She waits. He is hit bg the ball/ phrase quicklg. He expected something 
different. A giggle or mag be a no. He accepts it in fear of appearing inadequate ... But these 
are onlg simulations. The intentions giuen to each character are purelg imaginatiue specula .. 
lion, so the characters would, consequentlg, exhibit a humanistic/ poetic dimension which 
would enable the phrases to deuelop into a more telling form of expression. These bodies of 
clothing are themselues phrases constituting a social/ economic function which ends in middle 
class ahhh and tiresome lint remoual. For example a sweater. 
SIDEATER 
Fact.. The "He's" mother purchased the sweater at the local Under Fiue Dollar Store. 
She belieues that clothes should be durable, fashionable, and cheap. She feels that sweaters 
haue the abilitg to appear masculine, if one is able to find one with the right color scheme, and 
soft without being thought as "soft," which denotes femininitg and potential "queer" status. She 
states, ''l'ue alwags thought men looked handsome in sweaters. IDhen me and mg husband 
used to date in high school, he alwags showed up at the front door wearing this louelg green 
and white arggle. He was so handsome. But what persuaded me to start buging them for mlj 
son is when 1 realized how incrediblg popular theg'ue become with the goung people. Euerlj 
time 1 turn on the teleuision some teenager is struttin' around wearin' one of those things. So 1 
said whg not mg bog, he's just as handsome:· 
Sweaters.. 4iuen at Christmas, birthdags, and anniuersaries. IDorn bg fathers, mothers, 
Nnrt.hrirl11r. RP.7JlP.11J 
cbris cole 159 
sons, daughters, and grandmas and grandpas. Sweaters are worn on all prime time programs. 
'['hese shows are predominantly domestic comedies involving a husband, wife, and two or 
three kids. These shows never discuss why the characters choose to wear sweaters. Jim 
Arpello, a well known producer of one of these "domestic comedies" discussed the sweater 
issue stating, "l really don't know what to tell you. UJhat sort 'of question is that anyway? lJour 
asking me to talk about why the characters in the show wear sweaters? lJou see in the past l've 
tried to be as polite as possiblewith these types of questions. l say to myself, 'Hey it's some no .. 
nothing, no .. offense, grad student probably working for his college paper, or maybe he's 
working on some idiotic research report that quote ""explores television's influence on the 
public."" So what do you want me to say that since Sears is one of our major sources of adver .. 
tising revenue that we have deceptively made our actors wear sweaters to increase Sears' 
sales, which leads you to believe that Corporate America dominates every aspect of our lives. 
See, you didn't think l knew that angle did ya. l went to college to ya'know. Took 
Communications lOl. Learned all about the ""mass media:"' l oohed and ahhaed all semester. 
UJelll'rn here to say after l5 years in the television business, lT AIN'T LIKE THATl lJou 
know why l have my actors wear sweaters? Do youl Because UJoolworth's put out a sweater 
catalog which my wife can't get enough of. She suggested quote ""how lovely"" they would 
look on t.v., and after about six months of her bitchin' at me about it, l put' ern on the air. So now 
when l come horne alll got to hear is her whine about the new car she wants. Maybe l'll have 
all my actors drive around in new Chevys so you can do a paper on how G .M. controls the 
entertainment industry. Now, would you please go away:" 
Gave him a sweater. He'll wear it most likely. He doesn't like sweaters, but l know 
he'll use it. lt will stay in the closet and be taken out occasionally. Maybe for playing in the 
park with his son. He will forget l gave it to him after a couple of years. He might ask his wife, 
"lJou got this for me last year?" She'll remember, and tell him l bought it. "Oh yea," he'll say, 
and smile. 
DlJE ROLLS .. POUJER 
Card Game.. Five men sitting around a table playing cards. 
First man .. He is tired of coco. He drank it every night for two weeks. He 
drank it to warm himself before he went to bed. After two weeks the chocolate flavor seemed 
sour. But he did not drink it for its flavoring. He drank it because he felt cold. He drank the 
coco in his den, so he could watch the television. He would watch bits of videotape. He never 
thought to question why he chose certain scenes. They made up so liHle of his day. 
SCENE 
A bald man appears. His name and title are shown at the boHorn of the screen .. Arthur 
Franklin, Art Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art. He speaks, "UJhat Expressionism does is 
Tbe Nortbridge Review 
160 cbris cole 
say we're not going to portray the outer world, but the inner world. UJe're not going to paint 
the skin, we're going to paint the bone and sinew." Consequently there are shots of various 
paintings which provide evidence for Mr. Franklin's assumptions. The paintings are thought of 
as innovative for their time. The web of colors overlap, creating distorted figures which are in 
need of a response. He thought of what Mr. Franklin said about the inner world. How would 
the expressionists have painted him, "the guy with the cup of cocoa?" Perhaps the painters 
would betray his calm scene. UJould he be torn into streaks of blue and black? UJould his 
portrait, entitled "Man with Cup" been selected by the producers of this documentary? He 
felt they could have used him. 


Dinner, and Other Things

E. Archilla, William

Somewhere in Lincoln Heights

Klawitter, George

204 
Restaurant 
lJou eat fish the way you eat my heart: 
Slowly, under frilly conuersation, 
Euery slice a deliberate caress 
Unconscious to yourself. 
1 don't care. As long as almandine 
Lengthens sole, 1 tolerate your poise. 
Nothing good comes at precipice .... 
The slow slide into you increases joy. 
And other customers, unaware 
Of your delight in meat, go about 
George Klawitter 
Their scallops, seeing us a dullish pair 
Propped in a window seat on UJickenden 
UJhere pedestrians pass obliuious too 
Of my diminished chord shrinking as 
Each bite you meditate becomes a spore 
Exploding into multitudes of heart. 
Tbe Northridge Review 


Restaurant

Lawrence, Monti

7Zl-
National AntheJn 
Monti Lawrence 
today 
i come to you with blood 
mmy eyes 
we are hypocritical sisters 
you and I 
we raise the wicked 
with crooked wooden arms 
i imagine you watch as 
i step from the shower 
the examination begins 
legs too thin 
hips too wide 
scrubbed clean 
i do not smile 
america 
this paradise holds 
no water or fruit 
we name only parasites 
and mold 
echo the dissent of yesterday 
with a silent passion 
for repression 
we do not resist 
our stories are written 
for us and laid 
open to the right place 
to land 
we hold no history 
The NoRt:hRidyc Review 


National Anthem

Hormone

Slump

Biscuccia, Sonia

Photo Essay 
The Rodeo 
34 
Sonia Biscuccia 
The Rodeo 
35 


Photo Essay, The Rodeo

Alejandro Sonders, Scott

Scott Alejandro Sanders 
The Outcast: Montreal, 1988 
"Ghetto of the elect. A wall, a ditch. 
Expect no mercy. In this most Christian 
of worlds, the poet is the outcast Jew." 
-Marina Tsvetayeva 
The exploding gas carried his bride 
of fire across the hotel's fifth floor, 
tossed a glass bouquet to the street below 
and showered the wedding guests 
with rice and rain and crystal night. 
We dressed by rote, collecting 
credit cards, passports, one another 
and started down the concrete stairs. 
And within that smoke of dreadful dreams 
with death and danger imminent, 
I became the musician who played 
for time in Dachau and the poet 
wordless from the fumes that churned 
in perfect German ovens. And she 
became Hanna Senesh 1 dancing 
with torn feet, while corroding 
into yellow billowing soot. 
And our vision transmuted: expatriot 
snowbirds washed up on a foreign beach, 
still burning with music and holocaust, 
now belching retsina and feta cheese, 
reading Leonard Cohen in his golden years 
because he is an old/poet/Jew. 
And in the last, the streetlamps 
on the boulevard showed 
the ash had run wet and cold, 
so we gathered our remnants 
together, and returned our outcast 
62 
Scott Alejandro Sonders 
selves to that Montreal room, where 
we prayed and swayed, until morning 
also ignited and left us consumed: two 
old/poet/Jews. 
Hanna Senesh (1921-44): poet & Haganah fighter, parachuted 
into Nazi Command to rescue Allied P.O.W.'s. Later captured, 
tortured & executed by a German firing squad. 
63 


The Outcast: Montreal, 1988

Rhodes, Heather

Heather Rhodes 
Sequined Carnivore 
-Of two evils, choose the prettier. 
Carolyn Wells 
My stomach is growling. 
It gets a splash of eau de parfum 
to soothe the ravenous rumble. 
This silence lets gartered silk slink up 
in filmy jet, 
where my nouveau manicure in frost lingers 
impatient, 
surgeon-steady above the petaled mouth. 
Undulate in satin, 
straddle the vanity seat to wield that magic wand 
that coats and coats in ebony smolder. 
Creamy, inhaled, sniff of a laugh, 
golden spikes clicking on the marble squares, 
marking my grand opening. 
Pink splattering bubbly popped 
to launch a steaming vessel 
armed 
with weapons that spook asexual feminists. 
Laughter graduates from a blip 
to a belly-flattening roar 
as my spangled boa chokes 
all the worn out, Perma-Press, bon-bon poppers. 
Catch my wind -swept stride 
in a trail of fragrant moondust floating. 
My blood -swollen breasts move hypnotically 
with each step. 
Sizzling in glamorous swish, satin singing, 
the heavy pendulums taking countless prisoners. 
Blot my shimmering lips and blot them all out. 
Giggle to the tempo as I tango 
buoyant, on the world's luscious crust. 
What about the casualties? Between laughs, 
65 
Heather Rhodes 
66 
I catch a quick breath to say: 
beware the formal 
primp 
and 
gloss. 
\ , __ 
\ I 
' ' ' _. 
\ \ ' I 
Dancing With Death 
Ceramic Sculpture 
By Barbara Freeman 
' 


Sequined Carnivore

Villani, Luisa

Luisa Villani 
70 
Datura Dreams 
Green hairs of grass nestle my iced tea, 
the straw, a ghost tunnel down. 
I turn over a rock and red veins 
of ants drain into the turf 
as a shadow comes across my glass. 
There are always these lunging moments 
blooming in unreality 
like poppies with their black seeds 
-so much like the kernels of dirt 
beneath my fingernails-
or the burst of the datura trumpets 
zeroing down to us on the lawn. 
My brother stood atop my shoulders 
shaking his knees and reaching out 
picking flowers in his fists, 
then we ran around the yard 
blowing blossoms and biting hard 
as if we were angels gone mad. 
Inside a cloud I sweated and cried 
"The long man is coming, 
he wants my cheeks!" as 
hands held my face 
in a flesh anthurium 
stamen to my lips 
icy hot. My mother 
pressed ice to my lips 
for days, and my brother's too, 
as I asked her senseless questions 
in the narcotic of my youth. 
Why do men have penises? 
Why do some flowers have them too? 
Why are calla lilies white 
when they should be pink? 
Why do I have ajlower between my legs? 


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