A Reporter at Large THE KING AND HIS CHILDREN by E. J. Kahn. REPORTER AT LARGE about Morocco. King Hassan II is a sovereign of unmitigated omnipotence who has seven palaces. This nation of 21 million is the westernmost of all Arab countries. Over the years the U.S. has enjoyed friendlier relations with Morocco than with most other Arab countries. The country's position...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) by Lawrence Weschler.

Comment by Suzannah Lessard. Not long ago, we were in Puerto Rico, in San Juan, in Old San Juan. From the island, the America of the States seems huge, overshadowing, and indifferent; one becomes vividly aware of the limbo in which Latin, Caribbean Puerto Rico exists, cut off from its natural family of nations...

Comment by Alice Truax. Recently, to our consternation, we were unexpectedly presented with an enormous bunch of Mylar balloons that looked like fugitives from some feverish night spot. It immediately occured to us that transporting this gift home would be no simple matter, as our plans for the evening included dinner at a restaurant...

The Current Cinema SNEAKS, OGRES, AND THE D.T.s by Pauline Kael.

The Talk of the Town Tips by William McKibben. Talk story about Wendy Leigh, who one night a month teaches a course on How to Flirt, under the auspices of the Learning Annex. This course is held in an Upper East Side school building. Miss Leigh, who is a journalist who comes from Britain, gets her information from conversations...

Fiction Up a Tree by Lynn Caraganis. Parody of actress Shirley MacLaine's best-seller "Out on a Limb," which includes references to mystic dreams and pop reincarnation...

Fiction The Days of Thunderbirds by Andrea Lee. Camp Grayfeather, in Delaware, was an integration camp. The campersNmost of whose fathers were professors and clergymenNhad been selected to form a collection of colors and religions so that when the 36 or so fourteen-year-olds assembled, they looked like a UNICEF poster. Writer's best friends were Chencheu, a...

Our Far-Flung Correspondents by Eugene Kinkead. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about the first Olympic Games in Greece. A while ago, the writer and his wife travelled to the site, in Olympia, of the original contests. Writer describes the site, and tells about the athletic contests. There were eight events: the four footraces, the pentathlon, the wrestling...

Books by John Updike.

The Art World by Lawrence Weschler. Entire column on David Hockney's Polaroid collages and his photocollages. Also, an interview with the artist at his home in California. For the last three years Hockney has taken tens of thousands of photographs and deployed them in increasingly intricate collages. Writer gives a detailed account of the development of...

The Talk of the Town Hot Line by James Lardner. Talk story about the Michael Jackson Hotline, a nationwide service capable of handling 60,000 calls an hour. The number (976-3232) has been in operation for a month, offering "daily one-minute updates on Michael, his family, his music, his public service announcements, and his upcoming national tour." If you'd been...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Poetry Sandstone Keepsake by Seamus Heaney. It is a kind of chalky-russet...

Poetry Death by Sherod Santos. Although great in passing, although suddenly enlarged The frightened heart puts up...