“Pick a chair,” says poet Keith Althaus, welcoming me to his house on Shore Road in North Truro. He and his wife, Susan Baker, have lived in the house since […]
Books & Poetry
MEMOIR
Sebastian Junger Considers the Inevitable Precipice
In My Time of Dying is an aneurysm-spurred trip through the cosmos
In My Time of Dying is like Schrödinger’s cat. Until you open the book, author Sebastian Junger is both alive and dead. But in the famous quantum theory thought experiment, […]
MEMOIR
Cher Tells Her Remarkable, Resilient Truth
Part one of the star’s story reveals the grit behind her reinventions
My mother was from Las Vegas. On one summer visit when I was 12, she took me to Ceasars Palace to see Cher in concert. During the encore, Cher ran […]
BOOKS
The Many-Splendored Loves of Older Gay Men
Zigzag is a short story collection for an uncertain age
Queer baby boomers are now elders, the first generation to grow old after Stonewall. They came of age in a world where it was possible to love openly, keep one’s […]
POETRY
Oh, the men, the men
I had a love And then another love And then that other love Went away And still Love remains Jeremy Bearer-Friend teaches tax law in Washington, D.C. Submit poems to […]
POETRY
Kindness
Our friend Zehra is back for an exhibition of her work at the museum. Gone the grunge look and her dark hair is blond, cropped, dramatic. She’s wearing nice clothes […]
BOOKS
The Makings of a Sally Rooney Novel
Intermezzo, the author’s fourth, follows a pair of brothers in the aftermath of their father’s death
A book. How quaint. An anachronism, really. How do you turn this thing on? Not just a book, a novel. You know, like Jane Austen, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf. Who? […]
WOMEN’S WEEK
Trump (Mary, not Donald) Is Coming to Town
The former president’s estranged niece wants to tell you about the danger we’re in
Mary Trump has been coming to Provincetown since she was a six-year-old at Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster. In the early 2000s, she briefly owned Kensington Gardens, then a […]
POETRY
We, the Non-7 Million
We giggled nervously at our good luck Moving up the half-empty jazz club to the best seats. It began in force the next morning Insinuating into air vents Broadcasting in […]
BOOKS
Jessica Valenti Is Armed With Fact and Fury
In a new book, fueled by outrage, she takes on the war on reproductive rights
Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Jessica Valenti began tracking the effects of the court’s ruling. Fueled by outrage, she decided to write […]
POETRY
Stillman’s Gym: Which Kelly Do Youse Want?
Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teaches my hands to battle and my fingers to fight. —Psalm 144 Phone call comes in: Lemme speak with Kelly. Which Kelly do […]
POETRY
Two Poems by Marilyn A. Johnson
The current ghost broom clean the measure of absence in the mud room no mud scuffed baseboards rusted sinks house we have worn you out mother locks the last door […]
LITTLE PEOPLE
Fairies Live Here — Believe It or Not
A new book by Andrew Warburton chronicles stories and sightings from across New England
If you want to see a fairy, says Andrew Warburton, all you have to do is find a four-leaf clover and place it on your forehead. He’s never found a […]
BOOK FESTIVAL
The Way We Teach Ourselves to See
Vinson Cunningham’s novel is set in Obama’s campaign for president
While New Yorker theater critic Vinson Cunningham’s Great Expectations is an autobiographical novel based on his experiences as a young staffer on Barack Obama’s first presidential run, it is not […]
BOOKS
Indie Reads: Back to School Edition
Nonfiction selections that will expand your horizons
For this installment of Indie Reads, we asked members of the Independent staff to offer some book recommendations now that summer is over and the transition from frothy beach reads […]
