Light Smoker A light smoker outside a luncheonette he stood, feathers of smoke coming up from the cigarette between his fingers, taking a break from taking carriages in to the Food Fair. Why not do it again? I asked. In a round-about way he said no. Do it meant get into the music business, being […]
Read more "LIGHT SMOKER – Peter Mladinic"Great-Aunt She got drunk, had sex, and got pregnant for the first time on one thunderclap of a night. One night, and it all began unfolding like a dark flower or the division of cancer cells. The bastard husband. The divorce. The troubled kids, in and out of jail. The lonely future in an empty […]
Read more "GREAT-AUNT – ROSALIE HENDON"The Reprieve Well half past midnightabout a quarter to threea grey rat nibbleson a stale block of brieHe would prefer a slight smidgenof a fire braised pigeonbut according to his religionhe can only drink peeSo he pissed in a cupand drank it right upand knelt at the altaron one bended kneeHe asked for a pardonbefore […]
Read more "THE REPRIEVE – TIM HILDEBRANDT"Excerpt from the epic poem WHEN I WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR, I AM …Ay Tonal, my despair is the saw-tooth chain that cuts through bone, its growl roars through my heart scattering bone-dust and what was once anger is reduced to a stump, cut down into sizes that fit my heart’s black-iron stove; I kneel […]
Read more "Excerpt from: WHEN I WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR, I AM – JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA"EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES It seems I am waking up every fifteen minutes. All night like this – I wake up thinking about the job. I look to the window to gauge the time And it always seems to be about 6 A.M. My alarm is set for 6:30. I need to be at work at […]
Read more "EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES – John Tustin"MEN’S WORK Somebody has to kill the cow, Somebody has to go down the stairs when there is a noise Somebody has to carry the baby out of the burning building Somebody has to stoke the fire Somebody has to find the Golden Fleece Somebody, when the food runs low, has to go Somebody has […]
Read more "MEN’S WORK – Marc Janssen "TRANSFER OF POWER I press my nameplate, flushed and new, hammered onto the door. I sit in his chair, His denim jacket slumped over Sink into his seat. It’s warm like he just got into the desktop drawer as if a naughty student paper-clips, a plastic sleeve, mouth half-open, An antacid tablet releases white dust […]
Read more "4 POEMS – Roxanne Cardona"I Want Out of the Cracker Box Too I saw a student presentation about Rumi as a BIPOC poet, and all this time I had thought Persians were white. A few months later I’m reading about Robert Saleh, a Lebanese-American, presented as one of only a few BIPOC NFL head coaches, and wondering whether anyone […]
Read more "2 POEMS – Joe Benevento"Daring Duo Coyotes and bobcats have been spotted in my rural New England town. Not actually spotted, but there have been sightings. And not together, never together, having the same approximate jobs. Like competing dentists, we are obliged to see one or the other as they extract what they must. It was a very good […]
Read more "DARING DUO – Fred Gerhard"Blackboard Your opinion on the chalkboard, the one your teacher wipes away. You are just another student, after all. Who gives a damn about opinions, when you as a person do not matter? Stand up, get up, scream! Refuse to stand down, insistently! Go to the principal’s office. Go to the dean. Go to your […]
Read more "3 POEMS – DANIEL SCHULZ "
Cacti Fur 