Unlikely 2.0


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Editors' Notes

Maria Damon and Michelle Greenblatt
Jim Leftwich and Michelle Greenblatt
Sheila E. Murphy and Michelle Greenblatt

A Visual Conversation on Michelle Greenblatt's ASHES AND SEEDS with Stephen Harrison, Monika Mori | MOO, Jonathan Penton and Michelle Greenblatt

Letters for Michelle: with work by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Jeffrey Side, Larry Goodell, mark hartenbach, Charles J. Butler, Alexandria Bryan and Brian Kovich

Visual Poetry by Reed Altemus
Poetry by Glen Armstrong
Poetry by Lana Bella
A Eulogic Poem by John M. Bennett
Elegic Poetry by John M. Bennett
Poetry by Wendy Taylor Carlisle
A Eulogy by Vincent A. Cellucci
Poetry by Vincent A. Cellucci
Poetry by Joel Chace
A Spoken Word Poem and Visual Art by K.R. Copeland
A Eulogy by Alan Fyfe
Poetry by Win Harms
Poetry by Carolyn Hembree
Poetry by Cindy Hochman
A Eulogy by Steffen Horstmann
A Eulogic Poem by Dylan Krieger
An Elegic Poem by Dylan Krieger
Visual Art by Donna Kuhn
Poetry by Louise Landes Levi
Poetry by Jim Lineberger
Poetry by Dennis Mahagin
Poetry by Peter Marra
A Eulogy by Frankie Metro
A Song by Alexis Moon and Jonathan Penton
Poetry by Jay Passer
A Eulogy by Jonathan Penton
Visual Poetry by Anne Elezabeth Pluto and Bryson Dean-Gauthier
Visual Art by Marthe Reed
A Eulogy by Gabriel Ricard
Poetry by Alison Ross
A Short Movie by Bernd Sauermann
Poetry by Christopher Shipman
A Spoken Word Poem by Larissa Shmailo
A Eulogic Poem by Jay Sizemore
Elegic Poetry by Jay Sizemore
Poetry by Felino A. Soriano
Visual Art by Jamie Stoneman
Poetry by Ray Succre
Poetry by Yuriy Tarnawsky
A Song by Marc Vincenz


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Two Poems by Charles Clifford Brooks III

A man said to the universe:
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."


"A Man Said to the Universe"
—Stephen Crane

To God

Hear my problem,
Old Man!
I wear the world,
anguished by its lacking.

I write.
I write so others
might wail as well.

They don't,
I do.

That's the problem.




bullets, books and regret

angry threats, bricks through bedroom windows, beatings in traffic,
gods half-hold open doors between raves and loathing,
all of them laughing.
bullets crammed in blue jeans,
muscle taunt, ink congeals over
flesh tired of indecision,
of nostalgia
as the years reach 30, 31, 32.

a .38 in the glove box,
great aunt's sheet music is held with red thread.
passenger seat the color of red wine,
a wedding band is on its edge
littering this here-and-now

dear maturity, enemy of buffoons,
it is refused by hillbillies and washed up cougars,
it's mauled open, chewed, mangled, exploited
like little girls abandoned beside circus tents.
it is not my country. it is not my dream.

it's a bitch's playground begging for a coup
between college degrees and gun-runners,
where battalions are met with amphetamines, motorcycles,
a zeal to hate the self-reliant, the librarian, the bartender.
voltaires lash out, leap up, a manifesto is written,
its fangs a wolf
to chew through false idols.

friends who share these high stakes will howl,
bake under a harvest moon; this is a blood curse.
tranquility is a dixie tramp,
the addiction, the harlot of authors.
it's bigger than a cadillac, than threats of terrorism,
than burning crosses; more vast than compassion.
this life is to see demons, to breathe lilac,
to live fully
with a heart punched by thorns.


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Charles Clifford Brooks III has been published in The Dead Mule, Eclectica, Gloom Cupboard, Cerebration, Underground Voices, Alba, Deep South, The Istanbul Literary Review, Prick of the Spindle, Conversations, nibble, and Semaphore. He is currently Poetry Editor for Literary Magic Magazine. Charles Clifford's poetry has been featured on the Joe Milford Poetry Show. He believes every artist should join The Guerilla Poetics Project. His first book of poetry, Whirling Metaphysics, will be published by Leaf Garden Press.


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Corinne
2009-11-15 19:10:52

Better

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