April 2014 | back-issues, poetry
He steps outside of his putty house
and stares at the midnight sun;
catches flurries
of pastel colored barnacles on his tongue.
Candy-coated cigarettes, puffed in
rings of lavender scented mist toward the stars.
The humans make their way through slush
and liquid concrete.
Golf cart garbage men
slip between
alleys and nail polish junkies lounge against
fence posts. Their chests are closed, sewed –
bits of stitching here – and there.
In his restaurant, teetering
over a silken sea,
the hearts cook in pots of oil, thick
and oozing. Sizzle! POP!
They hiss like lightning,
tremble with birdsong.
“Order Up!”
Hollow wooden waiters serve them, still
beating on icy plates.
Grapefruit-sized holes gape
in each patron’s chest.
Their noses sniff, perk; not seeing
but still, the smell of warmth, touch.
Flesh.
Roses on Valentine’s Day and love notes,
familiar raised lines and loops –
like braille, flattened
by starvation.
Pink blood
spills onto the clouds,
(Cumulonimbus)
as they gobble with paws and claws.
He watches, as he does every day,
through glasses of mantis shrimp eyes,
and waits for sunrise.
—Gabrielle Tyson
April 2014 | back-issues, poetry
Symmetry
I look up at your face and can see
that you’re a little worried, too.
I know all about your oh-so-green dietary plan,
but in this bar
there isn’t even a salad.
What I really want is buffalo wings.
I swallow hard and do my best to smile.
You frown at the menu and finally gesture
for the waitress to bring a pitcher.
A date doesn’t require food.
Beer is enough,
right?
We lace our fingers,
tense around the glasses.
We have everything else in common,
everybody is always saying.
Our scuffed green Converse touch
as our heads bob like springs on our necks.
I resist the urge to differ on purpose –
“Oh no, I hate watching football.
So violent!”
But, I like football.
And cars and hikes and kissing in the snow.
I don’t mention that last one.
Not yet.
You go on about Queen and Zeppelin
and I wonder at how your lips shape words.
And I hope the beer is enough.
Heather
She sits next to me in class.
I feel her Tiger’s Eyes study
the pink warmth crawling down my nape.
She lounges at her desk, legs crossed,
leans toward me
possessively.
Her fingers wrap around my arm
and I imagine the heat
of her skin branding a scar.
But it doesn’t.
Not yet.
Her smile is eager. Feral –
a predator’s seductive smirk.
A distinctly feminine scent lingers
in my throat; burns
sweetly.
“I like you,” she says.
It’s that easy.
—Gabrielle Tyson
April 2014 | back-issues, poetry
The burly bouncer, seated comfortably on a barstool,
mumbled with a sigh of boredom that he needed some ID.
I told him that, most certainly, all of us have needs;
food, shelter, and clothing are the most basic needs.
Love, companionship, and sometimes just someone to lean on
are other important needs.
I told him I needed a beer and a restroom; not necessarily in that order.
For me, both of which were important needs.
Completely unflappable, he still needed some ID.
Telling him that he could probably satisfy this need
by looking in his wallet ended our philosophical discussion.
I pissed in the dark alleyway behind the bar,
and after taking a beer from the open storeroom,
ambled off into the still early evening.
It was Saturday night; Monday morning seemed to me
to be as relevant as the number of angels that could dance on the head of a pin.
—Roy Dorman
Roy Dorman is retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Benefits Office and has been a voracious reader for 60 years. He has had poetry and flash fiction published recently in Burningword Literary Journal, Drunk Monkeys, The Screech Owl, Crack The Spine, and Lake City Lights.
April 2014 | back-issues, poetry
Drizzle
A fine drizzle softens the air
falls whisper-light
an almost-rain to glaze tired grass
and hard, cracked earth.
It lifts scents, musty cave odors
we love with our primal selves.
Earth stirs, the mist soft as a lover’s breath.
She sighs, content.
Drizzle
A fine drizzle softens the air
and falls whisper-light,
an almost-rain
enough to glaze tired grass
and hard, cracked earth
in denser shades of green and brown.
It wakes scents musty with the odors of earth.
She stirs under the touch, soft as a lover’s
breath.
She sighs, content.
no. 922
8 feb 14
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—Janet Butler
Janet Butler lives in Alameda with Fulmi, a lovely Spaniel mix she rescued while living in central Italy. “Searching for Eden” was published by Finishing Line Press in January, 2012, “Upheaval” was one of three winning selections in Red Ochre Lit’s 2012 Chapbook Contest. She recently placed, for the third year, in the Berkeley Poets annual poetry contest. She is moderator of the monthly Poetry and Prose at the Blue Danube in Alameda, and is a member of the Frank Bette Center for the Arts, where she will teach a poetry course and Italian language class this spring.
April 2014 | back-issues, poetry
Snow on the iced-up steps
bits of slate broken,
a frozen rabbit skin dangled
from a hook near the door.
Come in, come in, you can’t
stay out there. This weather
is meant for bears
and even they are hibernating.
Snow piled high at the back
cutting the light, frosted glass
with elaborate designs. A fire
in the open grate. She buzzed
about the small kitchen
excitedly wiping her hands
on her apron. A mug full
of steaming coffee.
Dad, come and see what
the storm brought in. A big
old man bent under the arch
when he entered the kitchen
from the other room.
He chewed and smiled
and sharpened his axe.
—Rose Mary Boehm
A German-born UK national, Rose Mary Boehm lives and works in Lima, Peru. Author of two novels and a poetry collection (TANGENTS), her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in US poetry reviews. Toe Good Poetry, Poetry Breakfast, Burningword Literary Journal, Muddy River Review, Pale Horse Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Other Rooms, Requiem Magazine, Full of Crow, Poetry Quarterly, Punchnel’s, Avatar, Verse Wisconsin, Naugatuck River Review, Boston Literary, Red River Review, Ann Arbor, Main Street Rag, Misfit Magazine and others.
April 2014 | back-issues, poetry
Green Lion Devouring the Sun
1.
Once again Z.’s following in the tracks of dad. Unlike Z. dad hasn’t
escaped the ravages of time—save for the new legs that he’s using to
snowboard through the streets. “Where’d you get those?” Z. asks.
“Don’t know, but the powder’s fantastic!”
2.
Come to think of it: Z. wakes in a fetal position
3.
After breakfast Z. curls up with Strindberg. All this vitriol
and dross for the taking
Rage, Rage
1.
Night. A little wine is spilled. The age-old drama is reenacted
not far from the church steps
2.
August and Pelagia drag out the usual knives and scrapers
and work on each other until they’re nothing but a lattice
of bone and the foul shop
3.
The next morning they look somewhat refreshed. He tries
to cozy up. Put a good spin on things
“Leave it alone,” she says. “You can’t be evil 5 of 7 days
and nice on 2”
“But you said you were evil all 7”
“Your evil is worse”
—Rex Swihart
R L Swihart currently lives in Long Beach, CA, and teaches secondary school mathematics in Los Angeles. His poems have appeared in various online and print journals, including Right Hand Pointing, 1110, decomP, Posit, and Lunch Ticket. His first collection of poems, The Last Man, was published in 2012 by Desperanto Press.
