The Fold by Chris Butler
Society
attempted to fold me
in square creases
into the mold
of all other scraps of paper
shaped into origami swans,
but like all of the fallen trees,
I’d rather rot.
attempted to fold me
in square creases
into the mold
of all other scraps of paper
shaped into origami swans,
but like all of the fallen trees,
I’d rather rot.
Smokes by Ryan Quinn Flanagan
The many teenagers
out front the corner convenience
want me to buy them
smokes.
They appeal to my vanity
make me feel young again
anything to get them
smokes.
A few of the girls
make eyes
rub my shoulder
as if paedophilia
took a holiday.
Unfortunately
for them
I am good.
Fortified
as any
wine.
Having jerked off eight times
in the past twenty-six
hours
(a new land speed
record)
I desire a bag of pork rinds
and a 2 litre
Coke
and no longer
them.
out front the corner convenience
want me to buy them
smokes.
They appeal to my vanity
make me feel young again
anything to get them
smokes.
A few of the girls
make eyes
rub my shoulder
as if paedophilia
took a holiday.
Unfortunately
for them
I am good.
Fortified
as any
wine.
Having jerked off eight times
in the past twenty-six
hours
(a new land speed
record)
I desire a bag of pork rinds
and a 2 litre
Coke
and no longer
them.
Map of wanton Omaha by James Diaz
All fall
the entire horse hair
moving
its blue bone prayer
the blur in your voice
is a borrowed thing
not even five dollars
will mother you
the next station
is a crippled man/woman
with child rearing phantom hips
lost in a bout
of 48 years, non-living
sentient blindness
cool even
the way a person hands
you a piece of their soul
smiling
'I too, am lost in that desert'
lesson #1, do not
trust that the world
will continue to be there
every time you open your eyes.
the entire horse hair
moving
its blue bone prayer
the blur in your voice
is a borrowed thing
not even five dollars
will mother you
the next station
is a crippled man/woman
with child rearing phantom hips
lost in a bout
of 48 years, non-living
sentient blindness
cool even
the way a person hands
you a piece of their soul
smiling
'I too, am lost in that desert'
lesson #1, do not
trust that the world
will continue to be there
every time you open your eyes.
Two Poems by John Grey
THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM THE BRIDGE
the crowd can’t get enough
of that female corpse
being dragged from the river –
if you slapped that
grisly green flesh
on a plate before them
they’d gorge on the misfortune
like vultures
then piss in their own mouths
to wash it down
unless, of course,
it’s someone they know –
then they’d be sated enough
for having pushed her.
WHERE IT LEAKS
The leaking tap
seems important at the time.
Despite my struggles with, wrench and washer,
my failure drip drip drips out of the faucet.
On TV, more sick, more dying.
A nun lifts up a frail arm,
thin as a plumber's snake.
On that tell-all screen,
the world is never more repulsive.
Children with concave chests, bloated bellies.
Lepers. A young girl's botched circumcision.
An old man sunk in a mire of sores.
Almost forget the leaking tap
in all this misery.
But it's insistent.
Hard to believe a tiny drop of water
can beat the basin like a bass drum.
The tap never does get fixed.
Likewise the world.
The newscast, at least,
can turn to weather and sports.
No idea who won.
Only that it rained in my house.
the crowd can’t get enough
of that female corpse
being dragged from the river –
if you slapped that
grisly green flesh
on a plate before them
they’d gorge on the misfortune
like vultures
then piss in their own mouths
to wash it down
unless, of course,
it’s someone they know –
then they’d be sated enough
for having pushed her.
WHERE IT LEAKS
The leaking tap
seems important at the time.
Despite my struggles with, wrench and washer,
my failure drip drip drips out of the faucet.
On TV, more sick, more dying.
A nun lifts up a frail arm,
thin as a plumber's snake.
On that tell-all screen,
the world is never more repulsive.
Children with concave chests, bloated bellies.
Lepers. A young girl's botched circumcision.
An old man sunk in a mire of sores.
Almost forget the leaking tap
in all this misery.
But it's insistent.
Hard to believe a tiny drop of water
can beat the basin like a bass drum.
The tap never does get fixed.
Likewise the world.
The newscast, at least,
can turn to weather and sports.
No idea who won.
Only that it rained in my house.
Getting out of the fuzzy place by David E. Howerton
Fog covered, and cool day starts
stay up late, eyes gummy, still tired.
Just as some News copter
passes overhead
more annoying than morning rush.
Run fingers through graying hair
start coffee brewing.
If I'd been out there
I'd have given
a one finger salute.
stay up late, eyes gummy, still tired.
Just as some News copter
passes overhead
more annoying than morning rush.
Run fingers through graying hair
start coffee brewing.
If I'd been out there
I'd have given
a one finger salute.
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