Magazine. Essays. Edited by Rikki Ducornet, Bradford Morrow, and Robert Polito. This issue gathers creative essays by some of the most daring and original writers at work today on subjects as wide-ranging as rock and roll lyrics, science, movies, pornography, curiosity cabinets, jazz, magic, and beyond. Among the three dozen essayists represented here are Anne Carson, Ned Rorem, David Shields, Sven Birkerts, Rick Moody, Fanny Howe, Dubravka Ugresic, Robert Harbison, John Crowley, Ben Marcus, Rosamond Purcell, Geoffrey O'Brien, Honor Moore, Joanna Scott, Diane Ackerman, William H. Gass, Michael Martone, Nancy Willard, Ken Gross, and Ricky Jay.