Poetry - Year V - Number 31 - December 2019

UNLIKE A DREAMby Mark Tulin A Skeleton’s Tie-Dye The esoteric bearded manat a Dead concertfelt the spirit of the 60srippling through his bonesthat made his white T-shirtturn into a tie-dye swirl. He’s a dancing skeleton,a man who...

SOME MONDAY OR ANOTHERby RC deWinter  Some Monday or AnotherI wasn't there when the microwave caught fire.This is what happens when dementors roam unsupervised.No real damage except now there's no microwave.Someday a new one from...

Survivisection A coal stove burns in the corner. I don't want a coal stove. In a survival situation, versatility is essential.Knife, ax & machete — these items are extremely necessary. Other minimallists have taken the count-ing challenge to the limit.I...

ALTEREDby LB Sedlacek AssemblyPlace theframeon a flatcleansurface bend tabsbackremove protectivefilminsertpictureartworklifebend tabsforwardandpresstosecurehangframeon aflatcleansurface. Nobody’s PlaygroundI noticed the slides first, hidden in thetrees, trees grown up around camouflagingthe unused abandoned playgroundthe utility building red with doors wideopen – it is empty,...

DEAR PROFESSORby Jesse Benjamin Dear Professor You know so much more of the world than I,Even though you lack the simplest sophistications,Born as you were, in the fine dust of the piedmont,Reared in staggering steps, between...

SWALLOWBy Keith Hoerner  engrossed with millions of americansin others’ misfortunes       movement distracts me       from the nearly two-hundred pound nine year old on tv       you carry a juicy earthworm in your bone-colored beak       to feed three tiny,...

HEARINGby Diane Webster HEARING My hearing intensifieswhen I lay me down to sleeplike feral cat dozingon top of abandoned shelfwith sounds ticklingdelicate ear hairs like train whistle miles awaywith wind I am in my bedroomat my parent’s...

AFTERNOON MUSINGby Steven Gerber     I gaze from my window,side-tracked from thevolume of Mythology,open on my lap.My notebook nearby,I am now impacted.I wallow in the shadowsof West, Steinbeck, Fante,and all others whom havegraced this great state.I...

LISBONby Byron Beynon   WAVESFirm muscles of watermove deliberately across the boardpumping the air with sounds;a panoply of waves,the preserved overlapin a mind of curling whisperscome to blend with the shore.Complex characterswith a fickle strengththeir joints...