POETRY: issue two
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Heather ChristleFROM “AND THIS TOO COMES APART”: People agree with sleep / They nod into it / but death they sometimes fight off / until they can’t / and then / from their graves / they stick out their tongues / / Good for them /
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Geoffrey NutterFROM “PORTRAITS OF OUR FATHERS”: My father was a vendor of cabbage nets. / What was yours? This is a portrait / of my father as a soldier; this the blade / he carried, like a saber, not a saber, / but a blade-like sword of grass /
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David WojciechowskiFROM “CYNTHIA,”: Once I also asked myself to marry me. The ceremony was actually really lovely, but then when I tossed the bouquet I also caught it. That’s when I realized everyone at the wedding was me.
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Claire BeckerFROM “IN THE EVENING, NEATLY”: Somebody wants to be like me / and I want to be somebody better. / We all want to be with someone / smarter and it’s possible / / we’re all somebody’s mother. /
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Darin CiccotelliFROM “THE BLINDS”: Whichever man that is woman that is / contorting their flesh. Whichever man with men / with a Roman thinness the women— / that private vowel goes public / and all of us stop, and all of us scan /
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Tomaž ŠalamunFROM “GIRLIE”: Girlie! / Come out, girlie! / Hey, girlie, peep through with your head! / A strange wind starts to blow, / pieces of glass are glued to the grass. / Apricots roll toward the sidewalk. /
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Farnoosh FathiFROM “GOLD DOLT”: A crescent cent shores up, a new name / in the drip-dry day. And you know, how granted some nucleus, / one glues the rest to toothpicks and standing back, looks to, / maybe mocks, the resultant gait: /
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Gale Marie ThompsonFROM “PULSAR”: And so said, and so you said / I want to go / with you, without you. / I only wanted for to see / the spectral light. / So lucked out, / so catching, / so dwelled. /
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Jacob SunderlinFROM “CHARLES MANSON”: During our time here nothing much / will be talked about. / I will come to some camera / in the desert of your making & speak. / / I remember getting in the car. / This is my country full of pairs. /
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Jennifer DenrowFROM “SEPTEMBER STORIES”: Sometimes I forget how permanent we are. The people in the sea share each other. I don’t cuss out the Pacific. I hear transformations happen in me. There are just emotions now.
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Jessica FarquharFROM “IT TAKES COURAGE TO BE YOURSELF”: That’s gadgets on top of / our friendship—weights and bolts— / for each would do one thing and / have boys, misconstrued brave / and flighty. Each would go. / / The worst / part of life / is the during. /
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Brian OliuFROM “BIRTHDAY CAKE (1:21)”: Let’s keep this short. There are no more birthdays. The digits will be reclaimed in area codes, pennies in a jar, flight numbers of planes back to you. / /
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ThibaultRaoultFROM “CHICAGO, STABLE AS EVER, ENJOYS THE VIEW DOWN ITS OWN PANTS”: Gavotte, I’m running out of montre-moi, no sweetener / Since Greek reproached us all for allegory allegory 4-5-6 [sung]. /
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Anne Marie RooneyFROM “LITTLE GIRL WALK DOWN”: That street and the side of you glinting / In light which neither / Shows nor ever will show / You your muscle, your own / Diamond face. It practices / A monument open in you, /
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Stephanie FordFROM “CATHEDRAL”: Our sky is no less a special effect. / Someone slashes tomorrow’s tires, / this month’s billboard says You could be next. / Buildings fall, and stars, and dollars. /
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Jordan SandersonFROM “FORMULA #15”: Unless you are a master of jigsaw puzzles, / don’t let a doctor teach you how to regard your body. / A good vet, one who sees fish mostly, might recognize / something inside you. /
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