PESSOAS by Arthur Powers
Seánce with Fernando Pessoa
1.
I, I, I, I… or should I say “we”we know the Anglo-Saxon mindthat desperately seeks and seeks to findthe Truth behind...
CHICAGO by Elsa Pair
Bloodletting
Bloodletting,but for the rage.
If I cut open my chestsurely all that will come out is the
rage, spilling down my frontlike...
ALABASTER POLISH by Terry Brinkman
Alabaster Polish
Short admonition ableSpiritual like purity abolishBeautiful veined alabaster polishDeliberate lie whit cableLady her self-setting the tableUnmistakably evidenced demolishedWoman’s softly feathered face polishedGentle a high degree of fable
ZERO SUM GAME by Mark Murphy
Bird Brained View of Power
for John Bolton
I have not journeyed here to steal anythingfrom your domain,least of all, your modest nest,
COMING OUT by Chris Arnone
Coming Out
head-first, blood-slickedhair like a tiny John Stamos.Bubbling with style but no pronouns.
Snip the umbilical, suctionand wail, count tenfingers and toes but no sex.
OLD PAINT COLORS by Sheree LaPuma
Old Paint Colors
Before he died, we shared a common history.The slow unfurling of breath, a womb, twohands, a tapestry of goodbyes in sepia. Aplacenta, grey, buried under the...
DOLLHOUSE by Linda Phillips
Dollhouse
I saved the dollhousefor you and you knew ityou knewcoming in the back doorbabies played cheapwe bought it off the streetrich folks' castaway
that's why...
GASLIGHTING by Amy Gautschi
GASLIGHTINGNothing can be found hereThere is no space to growThe walls are moving closerI don’t know where to goUp is to the leftExcept when it’s to the rightOutside the sun is shiningBut...
VESPERS UPDATE by Don Thompson
Vespers Update
In this season, the sun setslike an afterthought, its lightalready non-luminous.
The hills mostly murkwith some leftover mauvethat’s gone flat.
But...
AT FAULT by Cheryl Heineman
BirdingThey are raven-like, dark-wingedmoving toward a tangled nest
or like crows circlingseeking their own kindagainst a fog-ivory sky, the outline
is interleaved with comingsand goingsbirds-eye criesflybysof...
