SELF TALK by Emily Butler
SELF TALKBy Emily Butler
Self Talk
Looks like somebody forgot to take their Dylar this morning.
Did you wake up on the wrong side of the tracks?
Got a bad case of the un-days? The end times?
Don’t you...
WHEN YOU WERE BORN by Colin Dodds
WHEN YOU WERE BORNBy Colin Dodds Cardiopolis Floating through the worlddispensing permissionunknowinglyCranes raise houses, office boxesbivouacs for a war not yet agreed uponBuildings like the stock exchangeblossom in the snowAt midday in midtowntowers pose for their...
MY GRETEL by John O’Connor
MY GRETELby John O'Connor
My Gretel
My sister never called me Hanselbut she knew I would lead her to trouble.The hollyhocks looked at us mischievously
from the frost wall garden and we stole outin the twilight to...
LATE AT NIGHT by Daniel Senser
LATE AT NIGHTBy Daniel Senser
Late at Night
The clock is drunk and I’m too soberTo sit and listen to it unwind.Each tick and tock of its time pours overLike a wino spilling over the sides.The...
ON VIEWING THE CORPSE OF MY MOTHER-IN-LAW by Nolo Segundo
ON VIEWING THE CORPSE OF MY MOTHER-IN-LAW
By Nolo Segundo
How could this –thing, have been her?Lying shriveled and small on the bedAs those who loved (and feared) herGathered in the bereft hospital roomTo let their...
OUT IN THE DISTANCE by Holly Day
OUT IN THE DISTANCEBy Holly Day
Spring
ice melts in noisy rivuletsresumes descent on muddy river banks
poking its greasy snout out of the watera bullhead lumbers out of torpor, floats to the surface
frightens newly-hatched crawfish and...
LEAPING WITH YOUR LEGS LOCKED by Don McLeod
LEAPING WITH YOUR LEGS LOCKEDBy Don McLeod
Excerpt from the full-length poetry book (Leaping With Your Legs Locked)
Leaping With Your Legs Locked(section 4)
the retarded boy down the streetsaid hey I want to be somebodyI knew what...
WALKING by Patrick Hurley
WALKING…selectionsBy Patrick Hurley
***
letters and numbers convergethen dissolve into pure sound
suddenly visible in the pavementa repeated pattern of circles
late sounds come to usapproaching dissonance beautifully
eyes burn and water–the airborne miasma
each cold breath a knife bladeand...
INVITATION by Gloria Monaghan
INVITATIONBy Gloria Monaghan
Invitation
The road is waiting for you to walkinto the open air
into the slightly grey day
with the sliver of sun just over the clouds
orange and unpredictable
we are in God’s way
each of us golden
and...
DOG DAYS by Ian Smith
DOG DAYSBy Ian Smith
Dog Days
Overheard in the early stages of these beige days,my last challenge, trekking the desertfar from a ruinous prime when oases always shimmered,two women walking laps refer to a dog named...