Inner Cities
a CD colletion of
poetry-jazz
performances by Uri
Hertz with pianist Steve
Correll and bassist
Glen Mont. This unique
recording is
a journey into
evocations of sound
and sense, memory
and imagination,
pulsing  on waves of
poetry and music.
back issues of third rail                                                                                      
Issue No. 9, 1989

Click on cover to see linked page with
extracts from issue.
Issue No. 8, 1988

Click on cover to see linked page with
extracts from issue.
Issue No. 7, 1985-86
Issue No. 5, 1982
Issue No. 6, 1984
Issue No. 4, 1980
Issue No. 3, 1977-78
Issue No. 2, 1976
Issue No. 1, 1975
Poems
by
Uri
Hertz

Collages
by
Linda
Haim
to see full-size poems, point to one of the above pictures
and click on link
lo real maravilloso
puppet sculptures by Linda Haim

Bio and artistic statement                                                                     
point and click on images to see larger
size reproductions of sculptures
soldiers
click on linkl to see larger reproductions from Soldiers series
la comedia humana
lindahaim@literatureandarts.com
website design by Uri Hertz


copyright © Uri Hertz / Third Rail 2004
recommended links:

a wealth of Rexroth writings at Bureau of Public Secrets:

http://bopsecrets.org/rexroth/index.htm


website of poet Doren Robbins with links to his bio, publications
and writings.

dorenrobbins.com


international literature, art and music:
highmoonoon.com


uniquely informative site on traveling and living in Costa Rica:
costaricajournal.com


extraordinary photos of the cars of Cuba, windows, belly dancers
and more:
denisemarinophotos.com


Emilie Conrad's website for Continuum's courses and workshops
in deep body work and healing:
continuummovement.com
Photo by Jan Deen from back cover of Third Rail 7 1986
THIRD RAIL burst onto the American literary scene in 1975 with a fresh take on
how far a poetry magazine could go beyond the editorial and graphic conventions
of its genre to link writing with cultural-historical movements and  political and
artistic changes of the era.

THIRD RAIL immediately cut an uncompromising and expressive path across a
broad spectrum of writing and the arts starting with the publication of its earliest  
issues. Co-edited by founding editors Uri Hertz and Doren Robbins, the magazine
set out its editorial concept based on a historically-minded approach to literature
as a living cultural force. THIRD RAIL's dynamic appeal caught the interest of
leading writers such as  Henry Miller, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Bly, Jack Micheline
and George Hitchcock, who contributed writing to early issues. Full editing and
publishing responsibilities were left in the hands of Uri Hertz when Doren Robbins
left his editorial post with the magazine after five years. As THIRD RAIL continued
to carve its unique course through the shifting landscape of post-sixties to late
twentieth century American culture, this innovative and imaginative review of
international arts and literature continued to capture and hold the attention of
poets, writers, scholars and practitioners as well as appreciators of the visual,
theatrical and cinematic arts.

This website is the return of THIRD RAIL to the literary, artistic and cultural flow of
creative production and critical discourse. Presented on these opening pages are
writing and art selected for reprint here from among the most recent of the nine
issues published from 1975 to 1989.

An art installation titled Lo real maravilloso, Puppet Sculpture by Linda Haim, is
mounted on this site.  

Kazuo Ohno is featured here with writing by and about the centenarian Japanese
Butoh master with photographs from his classic performances.
Homeland Follies
Thanatopsis
Hayride
Tie Rumsfeld Down









w/sculpture by Linda Haim
Judges
Asian Journal



Photographs by Danielle Haim
Poem by John Solt
for Masafumi (Gabun) Suzuki and Ira Cohen

Ghost Prevention in Thailand
Photographs by Srisuda Foythongsamrong

Alchemy and Cinema:
Interview with Alejandro Jodorowsky
by Uri Hertz (from Third Rail # 4, 1980)

99 Years of Japanese Avant-garde
Art on the Wall
John Solt

Kazuo Ohno One Hundred Years (opening page)

new writing on Ohno: Jon Spayde: Dancing with Ohno

Kazuo flowers, Amherst, Mass. 1993
photographs: Frank Ward
Kazuo Ohno in Hokkaido, 1994
photographs: Eikoh Hosoe
Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno Studio
photographs: Kevin Bubriski

Ohno Kazuo: Pioneer of Avant-Garde Dance
John Solt
The Dead Start Running
Kazuo Ohno
(from Third Rail no. 8, 1987)
Keiko no kotoba  workshop words (Ohno)
The Androgynous Ghost in a Cup Filled with Ocean
poem: John Solt   photographs: Ira Cohen
Kazuo Ohno and Butoh
Jack Egan


Pablo Antonio Cuadra  
Poem of the Foreigners' Moment in Our Jungle
Text in English and Spanish. An audio file of a live bilingual  reading of the poem
by Cuadra and Steven White may be listened to by clicking on poem-title on page.

poem by Steven F. White
All Trees The Tree

poems by Doren Robbins
During the Commercial
For the Last of the Juma
Lorca

Four Recent Poems by Ira Cohen
photographs by Ira Cohen
five diptychs make an imperfect dozen

poems by Uri Hertz
Tie Rumsfeld Down
Thanatopsis Hayride
Homeland Follies

poems by John Solt
Eros until the End
Phimai Historical Park Khmer ruins, 9-14th centuries Thailand
The Funeral, for Khun Na
Our World Darkens / for Kenjiro Yamaguchi

poem by Yarita Misako
I Didn't Give Birth to My Mother

film critique by John Solt
Another Hollywood Rendition: Whisking Away Geisha
Frank Ward
Kenneth Rexroth
Festschrift

part one

Reevaluating
Rexroth

for Kenneth Rexroth
poem by John Solt


Introduction to Japanese
Rexroth's Selected Poems  

Tetsuya Taguchi


Adding to our Nature

Doren Robbins


The King is Dead.
Long Live the King!

Uri Hertz


With a Tabloid Biographer,
Who Needs an Oeuvre?


Eros Until the End
John Solt


Three Sparks
in the Tinder of Knowing
Rachelle Lerner
T  H  I  R  D   R  A  I  L
international  literature & arts
poems torn from a life
is a new book of poems by Uri
Hertz,  published by
highmoonoon.








To order online, follow the link to  
Highmoonoon
Editor: Uri Hertz                                 Contributing Editor: John Solt
Alchemy & Cinema:
Alejandro
Jodorowsky
Kazuo Ohno

October 27, 1906 - June 1, 2010
photo courtesy of Ruth Witt-Diamant & family
interview by Uri Hertz
from Third Rail # 4, 1980
Adding to our Nature
Doren Robbins
LACMA Exhibit: “Kitasono Katue: Surrealist Poet.”

Interview with Hollis Goodall, curator, by Aoki Eiko.
Fina, I am Fina
Short fiction by Ernesto Padilla
illustration by Linda Haim

Literatureandarts.com is the official website of THIRD RAIL,
the legendary review of international arts and literature
that appeared in print from 1975-89 and is published
online here. Be wary of simulations.
From Ethnopoetics to Omnipoetics
Interview with Jerome & Diane Rothenberg
By John Solt and Uri Hertz
Kenneth Rexroth Festschrift
Introduction to the Japanese translation
of Rexroth's Selected Poems  
Art installations by Ai WeiWei in three
Los Angeles galleries in 2018/19   
photo: Victor Aleman
Uri Hertz

Year of the Pig

Day of the locust
Hour of the wolf
Year of the pig.
Night of the jackal
Season of the witch
Autumn of the patriarch
Year of the pig.
Morning of the magicians
Summer of love
Winter of our discontent
Year of living dangerously
Year of the pig.
Man of the hour
Woman of the year
Talk of the town
Movie of the week
Top of the ticket
Bottom of the barrel
Trial of the century
Night of the living dead
Silence of the lambs
Year of the pig.
Margin for error
Shadow of a doubt
Hour of reckoning
Twilight of dawn
Shiver of fright
Night of the generals
Minutes to countdown
Day of the dead
Skin of our teeth
Dream of transcendence
Handful of dust.

Yoshito’s smile melted snow on mountains. Because butoh
has no fixed steps, the inner life of the dancer comes
to the surface. As great and dynamic as other butoh artists
are, there was in Yoshito and Kazuo’s butoh something
especially attractive that captivated me.

Ohno Etsuko, Yoshito’s wife, who chose the costumes
and did the makeup for both father and son, was an
integral part of their art although she has never sufficiently
been credited by dance critics for her immense
contributions.

For me the most amazing thing about the Ohno family,
including Keiko, Yoshito and Etsuko’s daughter, is their
utter sweetness and the way they effortlessly exude love.
Not only were Yoshito and Kazuo superb artists who
changed the dynamic of world dance forever, but they
were among the finest human beings I have ever met.
And everyone who came in contact with the Ohno family
is in agreement. There is saintliness in the air there.
Leaving their house in Hodogaya, I always felt energized
as if I was levitating.

I visited the family home and studio perhaps forty or
fifty times over 45 years. I conducted the thrice weekly
workshops with Yoshito a few times for fun. I would
give mental settings to the assembled dancers but never
suggest how they should move. Then Yoshito would layer
on his instructions. On one occasion I said, “It’s the
end of the human species and you—a group of butoh
dancers—are the last and only survivors, and you are
also on your way out. Now dance those last moments of
so-called homo sapiens.”

Yoshito added, “Dance only with your back. Make your
back as expressive as the front of your body.” Then he
demonstrated and was masterfully engrossing in the difficult
task. None of the dancers could do it convincingly,
but Yoshito gave those performers something worth contemplating for
years.


Eulogy for Ohno Yoshito (1938-2020)


Yoshito
you gave your all
always

you listened with conviction
spoke with certainty
and taught what you knew
to anyone passing through
you smiled through adversity
celebrating the journey
you were light as a feather to others
and tough as nails pushing yourself

when you had nothing left to dance
you retired from the stage
then returned with newly gained wisdom
stirring up unconscious residue
emitting pure authenticity
in your trancelike movements

there was nothing ever false about you
perhaps that’s why people swarmed
to spend even a moment in your hallowed presence
we were hungry for light
and you never held back

of course you had to go one day
and we had to let you go
but that doesn’t make it any easier
to endure knowing we’ll never meet
on this side of the skies again

reprinted w/thanks to Toshio Mizohata and Dance Archive Network
John Solt: Remembering Yoshito Ohno
John Curl

This Is A Moment


This is a moment when
the contradictions snap like
a wishbone, the gears grind
to a sudden screeching halt, to
continue the old normal is
suddenly impossible
and the new normal
is yet to emerge.

A moment the old
revolutionaries would have
recognized, when patriots
of the future and fools of
tomorrow step forward.

As our little globe hurtles headlong
into the depths, what will
happen to countless millions of us?

Society as it was is now irrelevant.

To get through this, we have to
take care of each other.

The old revolutionaries used to
call that socialism.