The Crazy Ladies of Then

by Linda Lerner   Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot (first wife of T.S. Eliot)5/28/88—1/22/’47Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald (wife of F Scott Fitzgerald)7/24/1900—1/22/’48 I could have been one of those crazy ladieslike Vivienne or Zelda confined to wifean institution for life, if born in another time my words discovered in a husband’s booksas Zelda did: “Mr. Fitzgerald,” she wrote,“seems to

Insomniacs Anonymous

by Bruce McRae As you may surmise,we hold our meetings at night,our torment unreasonable,our pallor make-up won’t allay.Witches convening in a moonlit glade.Criminals washing the bloodoff their roughened hands.The happy-go-lucky undead,eschewing brains for a bucket of coffee. We pledge allegiance with a yawn.We sit. We stand. We kneel,beseeching sleepless gods and demons.But never do we