Comment Coment, Part I by Lawrence Weschler. Comment about the post-war chaos in Iraq. Operation Desert Storm had barely reached its conclusion, early last month, when events in the region began taking what Ted Koppel, of ABC's "Nightline," called "some alarming and unpredictable turns." The American media generally seemed astonished at the chaos that quickly engulfed...

Comment Comment, Part II by Andy Logan. Comment about a reunion of participants in the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, at the Hotel Washington. After Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, President Bush said several times that it was necessary for Saddam Hussein, like Hitler, to be appropriately punished for his heinous violations of international law. On the first afternoon...

The Talk of the Town Neat by John Seabrook. Talk story about an invention created by Chuck Hoberman, called the Reversibly Expandable Pleated Sheet Structure. Hoberman, formerly of Greenwich, Conn., and now of Greenwich St. in Tribeca, demonstrated his invention for the writer at a downtown gallery. The invention is a sphere about the size of a basketball, apparently...

The Talk of the Town Update by Patricia Marx. Talk story about Betty and Hal Madison's pet guinea hen, Oceana. A year ago, the writer visited the Madisons at Oyster Bay, and met their pet rooster, Nancie. The Madisons found Oceana on the beach between Brighton and Coney Island. They thought she was a sick pigeon, but identified her...

Fiction The Face by Milan Kundera. At a health club in Paris, the narrator sees a woman in her 60s waving at her swimming instructor, with the gesture of a young girl. Out of this gesture, he imagines the life of a young woman named Agnes. Agnes lives in Paris with her husband, Paul, and daughter...

A Reporter at Large ROOTS by Robert Cullen. REPORTER AT LARGE about two of the Transcaucasus republics Armenia & Azerbaijan. They are Soviet republics. "Glasnost" has undermined Soviet discipline. Reform has given birth to independence movements. It has also permitted the resumption of old feuds between people who no longer have to pretend they & their neighbors belong...

The Theatre ALLY IN THEATRELAND by Edith Oliver.

Our Far-Flung Correspondents NEIGHBORING by Jane Stern. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about homemaker radio. For full description SEE: Radio Programs...

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL HE MADE SO MANY OF THEM by Andy Logan. On Apr. 2, Mayor David Dinkins announced plans for a Jun. 10 parade up Broadway, billed as "the greatest ticker-tape parade in this or any other city's history," to honor the troops returning from the Persian Gulf. As with many loudly trumpeted pronouncements of the Dinkins City Hall, it...

Books by Helen Vendler.

Poetry Pill Bugs by James Reidel. In the leaves that border the cinder blocks of the house...

Poetry The Afternoon of Rome by Debora Greger. Room by room they close the museum...

Poetry The Rendezvous by Maxine Kumin. How narrow the bear trail...