The Talk of the Town Sorry by Jeanie Reed. Note left inside a Los Angeles Trans Am that had been stolen, found by the police, and returned to its owner: "Your CB is in the trunk box. The radio is out because I couldn't stop my friend from takin it (insurance will cover radio) I'm sorry it had to...

The Theatre BROOK'S ORCHARD by Edith Oliver.

Report from Israel I-THE YELLOW WIND by David Grossman. REPORT FROM ISRAEL. Writer, an Israeli Jew, wanted to go into the heart of the clash between Jew & Arab, to see things with his own eyes. Tells about his visit to the Dheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem. More than 6,000 Palestinians live there in an area of 85 acres...

The Talk of the Town Simon Rattle by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about Simon Rattle, a 33 year-old Englishman who was passing through town on his way from California, where he had been a guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, to England, where he has been musical director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the past...

Jazz by Whitney Balliett.

Books by Brad Leithauser.

Fiction Down In Florida by Jane Shapiro. Just before New Year's the narrator goes down to Florida with her ex-husband William. His mother, Lainie, is in the hospital with stomach pain. They are picked up at the airport by Pep, his father, and friend Herman. Pep drives overcautiously, while Herman makes dull conversation. At the apartment...

The Sky Line by Brendan Gill.

Books by Brad Leithauser.

Annals of War HAND TO HAND by E. J. Kahn. ANNALS OF WAR AND PEACE about a May 6, 1944 high-seas battle between a Nazi U-boat & the U.S.S. Buckley, a destroyer escort... The U-boat, the U-66, ambushed a freighter, the West Lashaway, in 1942. Of the 56 people aboard the freighter, about 42 managed to...

Comment by Lawrence Weschler. Comment begins by telling about a Polish columnist who has to keep inventing new ways of sneaking items past the govt. censor. Sometimes he uses lists of people with no comments. Everyone knows these people are scoundrels. Writer makes a list, not of names but a list of stories that...

The Talk of the Town Intuflo by Holly Brubach. Talk story. The Intuflo Hardware Store, on Columbus Ave., near 68th St. knows that man does not live by wing nuts or duct tape or power sanders alone, though it obliges its customers by stocking all these. On alternate Tuesday nights, Intuflo services its customers' souls, by holding a series...

The Talk of the Town Ludlow Street by Deborah Garrison. Talk story about a young married woman who lives on the lower East Side, on Ludlow Street, and about her mother's visit there. Her mother is from Ann Arbor, Mich., and can't understand why her daughter and son-in-law are living there. They explain that moving down there is...

Poetry In the Park by Maxine Kumin. You have forty-nine days between...

Poetry Skid by Carol Muske-Dukes. Where the snow effigies stood...