Editor @ June 30, 2009 # One Comment
40 years later
by michael estabrook
Linda does not remember Patti’s boyfriend Bob
being at Patti’s Sweet Sixteen Party
or that Bob was even her boyfriend at the time.
“I don’t remember that,” she muses
after I ask her about it.
But Patti must know if her own “boyfriend”
was at her Sweet Sixteen Party or not.
“Yeah, he was there, but he left [...]
Editor @ June 28, 2009 # 2 Comments
Dakota
by Sam
Outside Rapid City flat blue grey Sioux plains a sign with a light
old red peeled says see the last of the great buffalo in sawdust
broken pails and crumbling corral the cow and her calf in half
moon light touched by the hand of one old man says he knew Kit
Carson back when he’d shoot an [...]
misener @ June 27, 2009 # 2 Comments
michael jackson
by shawn misener
They all go from geniuses to freaks
emerging from brilliant white closets
to faces painted white
they all go from geniuses to freaks
They pop out of nowhere like stray bubbles
and linger like steel memories around our heads
always there to hold and caress
when we need to feed, to talk about the others
stray bubbles shot from an [...]
Editor @ June 24, 2009 # 3 Comments
A Little Like Rape
by donal mahoney
This sylph came forward
from the second row
the second day of class
and asked if
I would edit her poem
so it would read
the way it should.
I told her straightaway
that even though
this was writing class
and I was the instructor,
I couldn’t edit her poem
and still have the poem be hers.
Editing her poem, I said,
would be [...]
AgSynclair @ June 23, 2009 # 3 Comments
room 1101 at the buckminster hotel
by a.g. synclair
in the morning
when the dawn splinters our room
and her mouth
could melt butter
the cliché of
her legs
long and drawn out
like a lie told one too many times
gets chewed up and spit out
in a full metal jacket
of love and blood, and wars
fought with teeth clenched
in delerious
fits of rage
© 2009 A.g. [...]
Kimberly E Ruth @ June 22, 2009 # One Comment
love is
by kimberly e. ruth
I want to smoke tea leaves with you, baby
and play ping pong off the hood of our neighbor’s
Mercedes Benz. I’ll let you serve me
Love me.
I was reminded of you this morning when staring
out the window; It was Mary Joe siphoning gas from her car
She looked happy.
I thought if you would spit [...]
Editor @ June 21, 2009 # One Comment
Chick-Fil-A Nightmares
by chelsey storey
Yellow daffodils sprout
from a black plastic vase
on a Chick-fil-A table.
A cow clock reads
“U snooz, U looz
chikin.” Chick-fil-A toys
aren’t toys, but educational
word bingo or 50 states trivia.
The waves imprinted on the table
cloth resemble a flat sand dune
or roadkill cat. The way
the gentleman across the table
combs over his last few hairs
reminds me of the [...]
Ajay Vishwanathan @ June 19, 2009 # One Comment
To The Bird Under The Window
by ajay vishwanathan
Your shuddering body makes sense to me
Like nothing else does;
The seduction in a reflection is often deadly,
Especially since it is a reflection,
An image of something that doesn’t exist
As perceived;
The leaves, the grass, the brightness
Are where you come from,
Not where you were going.
But from where you see,
It seems like [...]
fogman @ June 18, 2009 # 4 Comments
scythe and a sandglass
by jim benz
Serafino has one handkerchief
which he keeps in an oak box
wrapped in linen beneath his bed.
It is as clean as the tears of a saint
and twice as holy. Prior to its interment
beneath the bed, his wife Malvolia
wanted to burn it, to cleanse it of spells
and demons. She didn’t know
what she was [...]
Genie_the_girllequin @ June 17, 2009 # 3 Comments
Night at the Opera
by Genie
Looks like someone painted
picasso on your arm;
the scalpel is still warm with the
unintended oh-so bittersweet
ideals of your innocence.
Call me a liar,
call your lawyer
lying there is the best you’ve got.
Nothing matters but the
oh-so bittersweet serenity of
being young.
Dorian Gray would be proud,
with you now.
Don’t you worry [...]