summer rebirthdeconstructing wallsbuilt by cold years,my hands are no longer brittle,my blood has begun to warm;it all now comes so easilysavoring daybreak frost from her last kiss,discovering constellations in her freckles,chasing sparrows in her eyes,this is my home,i am home. ~ floorboard truthso full of excusesfor why things don’tget better—i write poetry for no one […]

Read more "4 POEMS ~ THOM BAKELAS"

Sand Where now a thousand thousand houses bake in the summer desert sun, there were once lolling sandhills as far as Slover Mountain, surrounded by the endless geometry of dark green orange groves. The limestone mountain was ground down over the years to make concrete to make the stucco houses that crowded out the groves. […]

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Chloroform Dinner Napkins I grew up with paint thinner, not paint I grew up with blood as thin as wineglass legs To the eye of anyone who isn’t a sommelier; I am a torso floating I am the skyscraper built on quicksand he who needs not walk on water since he can’t walk at all […]

Read more "loroform Dinner Napkins – John Maurer "

SOLDIERS An allusive whisper, down on all fours, scented with spice, at the edge of the bed. In a thick-walled and narrow windowed house, a stucco fortress out of Mizner. Fronds of light. Camera. Palm trees. A series of flickers. Dancing on the lawn with imaginary water from a sprinkler system. My eyes are dull […]

Read more "SOLDIERS – JOHN GREY"

Happy Valley In a hand-potted bowl of browns and tans, pink-hued eggs rest against sugar beet slices, waiting an overdue repast. In this season between seasons, adolescent bats arrive— midnight’s uninvited callers —to this aged house, nestled where rocky ridges paint the sky slate and avocado. On late August afternoons, black bears lumber through my […]

Read more "3 POEMS – MICHELE MEKEL"