IN HIGH SCHOOL by Ron Riekki
IN HIGH SCHOOLby Ron Riekki
In High School, We Tried to Light Each Other on Fire
We didn’t want to end lives, but rather to seehow beautiful the direction of flames could be.We were stupid,...
TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH by Duane Anderson
TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGHBy Duane Anderson
Detective Skills
I was about to ask her if she was donating todaysince she had done so previously at thepast two blood drives, but then I rememberedthat she gave double reds...
SOMETHING IN THE WATER by Don Thompson
SOMETHING IN THE WATERby Don Thompson
Famous Fathers(Theodore Roosevelt III)
Some sons are born into ghostliness,never quite there—unnoticed,haunting the dark cornersof their father’s repute.Their complaints seem to come from far away.
Others who are recalcitrantand polished like...
MR. WONDERFUL by Jack Brown
MR. WONDERFULby Jack Brown
THE RHYTHM OF TIME
This is the hour of the cat.One with the night.On the street.Air parted as she wasgliding in through lamplightbetween cars over curbs.Flexing on paw pads.Claws gripping concrete.Grey sidewalk...
CALM by Elana Wolff
CALMby Elana Wolff Calm,not so long ago / the river ambling through the valley /easy in the aptitude of being in the blue beside the fireweedand pocket gophers stomping on the vandal grass / the...
THE WATER BUG by Luba Ostashevsky
THE WATER BUGby Luba Ostashevsky The Water bugA large water bug lay at the entrance to the kitchen.Its tentacles pointed up.The sloped roof of its home was a boat run aground on the cold tan...
THE TWO OF US by Victor Pambuccian
THE TWO OF USby Victor Pambuccian
the two of us
since our common silencehappens in timewe are one day drownedby the implacable advanceof that circular motionits vortex pushing us downtrying to mute the echoof that resonating...
A STRANGER WITHIN by Ruby Nambo
A STRANGER WITHINby Ruby Nambo
A Stranger Within
That’s her: sitting by the green grass.She looks so beautiful,With her long black hair.Her figure isn’t perfect unlike most womenBut you can tell she is worth more than...
THE BEAUTIFUL DAY by Karen Schnurstein
THE BEAUTIFUL DAYby Karen Schnurstein
Invitation to the Man I LoveAfter Elizabeth Bishop’s “Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore”
From that formidable historic downtown building of yours, up from within its city of dark bricks, please come to...
ABSENT, NOT GONE by Timothy Robbins
ABSENT, NOT GONEby Timothy Robbins Absent, Not GoneI don’t expect to miss you but I dotonight or rather this dark morningproofing these lines by TV light.Gone — let’s say absent, (the absence of an ah renders the...