Living Room [153]
by kimberly e. ruth
The door opened then closed, slowly, the lock carefully turned and put back into its place. Where have you been, she asked. She was on the couch, her head still …

Due Date
by kimberly e. ruth
Squat on the peak, they held hands, with resistance.
I want to kiss you, she said. You know I can’t, baby, a little slack and we’re with the pigs. She looked down. …

the road to peace
by kimberly e. ruth
There is someplace else
I should be
not here in this seat
not in this town
I look out the rear
view mirror
at a woman with ragged hair
who is walking somewhere,
I assume.
I pass an …

Aimless Love, Summer Love
by kimberly e. ruth
*a response to Billy Collin’s Aimless Love
The best kind of love, he wrote
was that without recompose, without
gifts, or unkind words,
without silence
on the telephone:
a mouse carcass, a wren,
a chestnut.
I continue …

On The Electrodynamics of Dying Bodies
by kimberly e. ruth
*Title appropriated from Albert Einstein’s essay “On The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” which introduced his theory of special relativity.
CONSEQUENCE ONE
It is titled War Execution. His face is …

I am you with teeth (a revelation inspired by Jerry Springer)
by kimberly e. ruth
You sit there smirking
marinating yourself in declarations of truth

Beings of proof that hate breeds hate
bang their heads against walls and ask
why.
How
could
you
sleep …

Flash Light
by kimberly e. ruth
Like inside a pig’s stomach, it was dark:
 
a scene illuminated only
by what looked like a dilapidated saint
 
broken and buzzing an awkward
buzz.
 
I stepped closer
 
to get a better look and maybe feel or
touch …

Big Dreams
by kimberly e ruth
On my way home from work I heard a man say it doesn’t matter, sleep is the same wherever you do it, and I thought, yeah, for the moment. I remember …

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 …

At the County Fair (in New Jersey)
by kimberly e. ruth
He blew up my balloon and I held my breath. As
it got bigger, so did my eyes, as though air were
being blown into me instead of …

on Sunbathing
by kimberly e ruth
oil
sunglasses
removable top
and any surface:
grass, sand, pavement
There was once a 3 car pile up
southbound on the New York State
Thruway, cars backed up for exits.
Motionless bodies, face up,
on the hoods of cars,
will …