From news reports of tasks that various types of rodents have been trained to perform. Distinguish healthy patients from tuberculosis patientsDistinguish Japanese speech from Dutch speechFear cherry blossomsFear terrorists
From “Translating Paul Blackburn,” published in The Next Loves, a collection of poetry that was released in September by Nightboat Books. Translated from the French by Lindsay Turner. Finally I…
From records of alleged behavior by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, as reported by unaccompanied minors, dating from 2009 to 2014. The A.C.L.U. Foundation of San Diego and Imperial…
Number of different forms of torture the Syrian government is suspected of having used during the country’s civil war : 72 Factor by which women are more likely than men…
From My War Criminal: Personal Encounters with an Architect of Genocide, out this month from Ecco. The book recounts the author’s interviews, conducted between October 2014 and November 2016, with…
The only letter I’ve ever sent to the New York Times was in the 1980s, objecting to the paper’s suddenly pestilent use of “draconian.” During Iran–Contra the complaint must have…
Number of new Christmas films that will debut on Hallmark channels this year : 40 Percentage of the world’s internet traffic that is attributable to Netflix : 12 Percentage increase…
From The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism, a work of criticism that will be published next month by Bloomsbury. In the midst of existence, most living things deny time.…
Past behaviors, described and reported online, that individuals successfully lobbied Google to remove from its search results under the European Union’s “right to be forgotten” law. Publishing a poem on…
“Composition with Painted Cutouts,” a photograph by Nico Krijno, whose work was on view in June at Elizabeth Houston Gallery, in New York City.
From South American Journals, a collection of Ginsberg’s spiritual writing published last month by the University of Minnesota Press. This entry is the author’s account of an ayahuasca experience in…
From Little Hill, which will be published in April by City Lights. I follow the sunlight around the lawn With a ridiculous plastic chair A chair has its task and…
From sentences in movie reviews by James Patterson. I’m a little nuts and a little sickIt should be obvious that I like preposterous storiesStephen King commented that he doesn’t have…
From an untitled essay in Book of Roy, a collection of photographs by Neil Drabble that was published in October by MACK. Tillman’s essay accompanies Drabble’s photographs of an American…
The Sleepwalkers and Rope-a-Dope, mixed-media artworks by Deborah Roberts, whose work was on view in July at Stephen Friedman Gallery, in London. Courtesy the artist and The Studio Museum in…
For Rebeca López, from Bleeding from All 5 Senses, published this month by White Pine Press. Translated from the Spanish by Cole Heinowitz. You were born from the sperm of…
From Why I Write?, a collection of prose published this month by Karolinum Press. Hrabal (1914–1997) was a Czech writer known for his novels Closely Watched Trains and I Served…
Workbench with Underwood, a painting by Dickon Drury, whose work was on view in August at Koppe Astner, in Glasgow, Scotland. Courtesy the artist; Koppe Astner, Glasgow, Scotland; and Galerie…
From reports of conditions in the New York City Housing Authority’s public-housing units since 2017. Unidentified children likely poisoned by lead paintMold in the apartments of asthmaticsBroken air conditioners in…