Second Coming

 

The Last Judgement by Michelangelo

Tolstoy was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church because of his last novel Resurrection—essentially the final letter to the world from an author who walked out of his estate and died alone in the Arapovo station. Fitzgerald prophetically said there were no third acts in American life but reincarnation is one of the first things children learn about in Sunday school. Second Coming or just the old male refractory period? The urban legend is that the angel comes down and taps the little indentation below the nose and above the upper lip, to make you forget who you were. But no supernal force can lock or unlock the future. though; the writing is simply Living in the wreckage of one’s future is a slogan that’s often invoked about the pitfalls of projection. Then there’s the phoenix.

read "Rhododendron" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

and also read "Punk" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star