February 2012
12 posts
TRICKY QUESTION
ANGELIQUE WATSON
======
You ask me what’s my story, where do I belong?
“How am I to know?” is my first response. “Where do I go? Where do I belong?” It’s a tricky question you’ve asked me there. “Don’t you know my history, my history with decisions? That I don’t always make them. I listen to the influence of others.” Again I hear your question, Who are you? Where do you belong?...
PERFECT
L.R. DALBY
======
Richard cupped her face in his hand.
“I want to buy you something, but I don’t have any money. I want to give you the time of your life, but I don’t have the time. I want to say something that will make you feel better, but I am not inspired. I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to expect anything more. Also, I love you.”
Hannah looked up and smiled, “I...
HICCUPS
LEN KUNTZ
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My daughter starts hiccupping two days before her twelfth birthday. At first they are barely audible, coming every few minutes, but then their pace quickens, the jolts of choked air getting more expressive, turning into brassy gasps, as if she’s just come up from a long span of being underwater. I ask my wife what we should do. Terri’s prepping for a deposition she will...
FOLD
JESSE BRADLEY
======
Mathias looked at the cards in his hand: three 4s (two Clubs, a Spade), an Ace of Hearts and a King of Spades, then peeked at Joseph, also looking at his hand. “I’m all in.” Mathais pushed all of his chips into the pot. “Call,” Joseph shoved all his chips into the pot, then crushed Mathias’s three-of-a-kind with a full house (three sevens [Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs]...
MATRIARCH
L.R. DALBY
======
The Mother was pregnant. For eleven months, she had bled, stopping finally on the first day of December. A hushed excitement filled the air as the acolytes prepared for the impending birth of their new sister. As the Mother’s belly began to rapidly swell, the girls cooed and rubbed warmed oil across her stomach, softly tracing the plethora of darkish purple marks...
SWALLOWS
THOMAS R. THOMAS
======
The swallows come on
our birthday - in small bunches
at first — to scope it out
-
as if they would not be welcome
I sit alone — long for you.
High Resolution
“L.R. DALBY”======JILL M. GREENSETH
Jill M. Greenseth is a force of love, purity, and grace. She also takes amazing photographs.
This was taken the night before New Year’s Eve at an impromptu photoshoot, and I am honored to have modeled for her.
She has started a “365 Project”, where she will be taking on picture a day and publishing it to her flickr. I will post a link to...
EFFIGY OF THE GIVING
JOHN SWAIN
======
Parting before autumn
a kingfisher came
like a sorcerer
from the blue fire
of the bay.
I ate the pomegranates
and kept the seeds
growing inside me
to mourn
for the corn’s daughter.
The field bares stones
to raise an effigy
of the giving
like a king beheaded
to cleanse
and cause change
from a thrall
like love in death
I could never feel.
G STREET
KEVIN RIDGEWAY
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These identical box houses
lining this long,
southwestern stretch of suburbia
-
used to be inhabited by
Leave it to Beaver clones,
Stepford Wives dancing
-
with their many children beneath
the California sun,
but the kids flew away as angry birds.
-
Now it’s shakedown street,
with wino gulch,
would-be-gangsters chugging 40s
-
and playing with guns.
-
At night...
STAGNATION
L.R. DALBY
======
Small town punks with no thought of the future,
and nothing to do but fuck, drink, and smoke,
sit on the side of the road.
-
They eye a dollar tree wedding reception in the park
across the street wind down to a close.
-
A teenage bride is garbed in a glittery polyester dress,
with heavy makeup to conceal her youth.
A new husband pulls generic...
REN & STIMPY
THOMAS R. THOMAS
======
I used to work with Ren & Stimpy.
Those were the days when
Apple and Adobe were exclusive,
and Steve Jobs was having
his fling with UNIX.
I would take the animation cells
and backgrounds scanned by the Macs
and import them into the Annies
(yes, the animation computers
were called Annies), watching
each animation cell dance across
the wires empty lines...
THE PROCEDURE
JESSIE DRAKE
======
I just volunteered for an experimental procedure. The risks are high, I am told.
“The risks are very high.”
That’s what they told me.
But I signed the papers. My risks are very high if I don’t have it, that’s what I told them. I am quite certain that I will die if I do not have this procedure.
I’ve been on a waiting list for months now, just to be...
