extinguished when she leaves againI’m left to admire herdeparting figure, the wayher country/western shirtclings to her slender back.I count the tarnishedsilver socketslacking rhinestones likedead stars sequesteredin the Persephoneconstellation.an affair definedby absence. ~ union station, Nashville of course, it takes me onlyfive minutes to get readyfreeing me to linger nearthe doorway of the bathroomwitnessing Sera’s ritual,her […]

Read more "Karl Koweski – 3 POEMS"

Heat Lightning Is just normal lightning That’s too far away For the rain and thunder To reach. I always thought It was a magical kind of summer storm: All the marvelous light with None of the dreary consequences. I was just as disappointed to learn That shooting stars are also a misnomer. They’re just fast […]

Read more "Cody Adams – Heat Lightning"

INTO NICARAGUAWe played nice with the officious border guards.They stamped our passports like driving nails through the paper.Villagers paid little attention to us.We looked as harmless as a light breeze.We drove up and down hills and around cattle.When lost, we asked for directions in broken Spanish.Rations were kept purposely low – rice and beans.Our stomachs […]

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Songs about Christmas and being at home headlights melt forward as slowly as candlewax rolling away from a flame. the traffic this evening is frustrating outside my window. it runs up the quayside toward heuston and past castle- knock. and runs into the city and west toward the port and some of it splits toward […]

Read more "DS Maolalai – about Christmas and being at home"

CRYPT IN THE SKY Order me up, no one knows where this crypt in the sky like a condo on the 5th floor suite don’t sell me out over the years; please don’t bury me beneath this ground, don’t let me decay inside my time pine casket. Don’t let me burn to cremate skull last […]

Read more "Michael Lee Johnson – Crypt in the Sky"

DEMONS The demons that dwell inside my head are coming out now and I greet them with a resigned malice while my neighbors finish dinner, help their children with homework, put dishes in the dishwasher, discuss finances, take their pills, finish watching Jeopardy.

Read more "JOHN TUSIN – DEMONS"

GOOD LUCK FOR THE DAY I’m walking along when I see this middle-aged woman at the top of a short flight of steps trying to pull a stuffed chair through a doorway, so I stop and call up to her, “Would you like some help?” Checking me out for a moment she smiles and says, […]

Read more "Jeffrey Zable – GOOD LUCK FOR THE DAY"