Nomad in Killjoy, Quality Time, and Road Trip w/ Webbed Legs
by Gabriel Ricard, January 2005
"All smiles and schoolgirl
poses and naughty, if not a
little scary, poses in all the
common positions of perverse interest."
Tickets and November 3, 2004-6:30 a.m.: Two Euclid Street Shadows
by Royce Sykes, January 2005
"Hadn't quite grasped it was over—
yeah, done, fait accompli, kaput—
just couldn't watch anymore;"
Snapshot, The Shape of Light, and Words on the death of my father
by Candy M. Gourlay, January 2005
"Fabric holds my skin to itself,
touching me like love would."
The Night Shift and Speed Racer
by Linda Rosenkrans, January 2005
"the streets
they turn into
something different
at night"
A Sheer Spiel
by Betty Ruiz, January 2005
"I am horrified at the freedom of this tomb,
I got room to move my toes,
but my nose feels decomposed like a flattened-out rose."
Home and Kaput
by Wendy Taylor Carlisle, December 2004
"I can just make out 'beatnik,' jammed in the back
of what I still call the 'ice box,' its delinquent expiration sticker
out of sight behind the Jell-O salad and the moldy fondue"
Crazy Horse, Stretch, and Candy
by Lawrence Welsh, December 2004
"did you slip
on parquet
dance floors
and curse the pain"
Storm, Character Training, and Why We Hate Him
by Jim Ellis, December 2004
"The storm had red wings
bigger than Colorado.
It grabbed one poet."
Severed at the Wrists, Number One, Blur Your Sight
by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, December 2004
Severed at the wrists,
I might as well be.
They took away my guns
And brought me here."
(Jesus) Again and Cheerful
by Aryan Kaganof, December 2004
"I phoned for the hearse and then
We rolled together down the boulevard
Throwing roses at the onlookers cheering"
Last of the Old Time Tough Guys and West Nile Virus
by Ron Spurga, December 2004
"The blue ocean, their home for billions of years,
Had become an acid bath.
And the whales could swim in it no longer."
Where Were You Last Sunday?
by Lisa Zaran, December 2004
"Eventually, all things come to pass.
I decide to be hopeful."
Be Quiet, Next to the Last, and Tattoo You
by Shane Allison, December 2004
"want to cut my favorite one out of your skin
tape it in my journal as a souvenir
stick a dirty sock in your mouth"
No More Death Times, Undefined Rage, and Rejected
by Alison Withers, December 2004
"If I can't write a fucken poem
or song again
there is nothing
I want to say."
Rockwell's America and El Jaleo
by Dan Schneider, November 2004
"for this I shall need no words, I shall glean luck from the breath
of oceans, take off toward the red-iron future where age matters not,
nor death shall seek my keeping. Friend, brother, here I say: Heil!"
body count, tired..., and the ward
by DB Cox, November 2004
"all by himself
half in & half out
of the bush – inches
from a clean getaway"
Those Quilts Invite, E-Mail Message, and Blue Sunday
by Lyn Lifshin, November 2004
"all the flowers that I
draw, bright wild petals
that don't connect to
any stem"
3 orchids for niblock, organ trio @ the bluenote, and cecil taylor in absentia < elvin jones tribute @ the bluenote
by Steve Dalachinsky, November 2004
"3 arms part come to
gether here i am part
of"
Wild Blueberry Pie
by Scott Malby, November 2004
"This is Life you say to yourself whose servant you are all the days of your years. You eat and sleep with her.
You're in love with her and argue with her and make love to her knowing she'll leave and never come back."
Mopping Up and To Speak of the Darkness as Light
by Joseph Veronneau, November 2004
"Those pans were never anything short
from sizzling
as I burned my hands into
numb mitts for grabbing."
drinking coffee at 5:30 PM, the ambivalence of gift exchange, and Suicide is a disease of singularity and selfhood
by Marie Kazalia, November 2004
"and so the most disturbing part
of my hallucinated memory returns to me
swimming black out of that moist cold
Autumn Leaves
by Martha L. Deed, November 2004
"Angels and devils chattered in it day and night.
They argued over who was in charge of our house.
And why we were fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan
after the hostilities were over."
Greed, Disillusion, and Hindsight
by David Christian Stanfield, November 2004
"Once upon a time I asked you to take my breath away.
Now I want it back."
Beached 2
by Steve Dalachinsky, October 2004
"the clouds dominate the sky today
the waves crash violently
upon this usually calm shore"
Psychology Experiment, Parts One and Two
by Ernie Roman, October 2004
"Masters of psychology, they played us and we bought into it
But this ain't the end of it, soon it'll be four more years of bullshit
And shocking morbid statements justifying innocent lives lost"
The Getaway
by Ron Spurga, October 2004
"I have a duffel bag
Stashed under my bed.
In it cash, Lithuanian passport,
Grundig radio, and autographed
Photograph of Jimmy Hoffa."
Wow, fatarmfullofroses, and Society's Eyes
by Steve Dalachinsky, September 2004
"we are firmly planted here
in outer
space"
If You Find Me Dead in a Bathhouse, Head Cheerleader Prom Queen Student Body President, and Hardwood Heart
by Shane Allison, September 2004
"Whatever you do, don't tell my folks.
It would break their porcelain hearts.
Cover up my body before the cops arrive."
two poems from The Dour (and Dismal!) Series
by Patricia Gomes, September 2004
"He lives alone
and dines on boiled turkey necks
bought in Family-size packages."
From Flatbush to George Bush
by Michael C. Ford, September 2004
"I genuflect in front of soft altars supporting the innocence & optimism of those Brooklyn days, somehow turning, with the turning of the years, into the hard cold control of corporate monopoly & our only rebellion is a memory of \ Bronx cheers spouted into the Summertime fidelity for the American sport of baseball."
Cascade Premium is Sexy; the Southern Cross is Sexier, Interview with the Dhampir, and The Bends
by John Bryan, September 2004
"unlike your standard dildo found in the average girl's room there
is simply not enough of me to go around. need someone willing to be
as useless in the affairs of life. must have no rhythm during sex"
Tennessee Blues, Lemon Sun, Saturady and Two Tuesdays
by Lyn Lifshin, September 2004
"If I say lie could I
lose this blue, could
I feel more like I"
did then
Loose Ends and Dangling Wires, America, and The War to End All Wars
by Michael Estabrook, September 2004
"Helicopter overhead banking screeching
power-pumping the air, but I'm here
in Massachusetts far away from Baghdad"
Fireflies
by Rob Swart, September 2004
"I never believed my dad when he said he drank
Because he knew the meaning of everything
Was inscribed on the bottom of a beer bottle."
Addicted to Rum and At the Oregon Zoo
by Andrew MacArthur, September 2004
"And you are the key;
you have the automobile,
and you can stand"
When All Is Revealed, An Ordinary Businessman, and Ambition
by Andrew Michael Hranek, August 2004
"I rent my life
just to spend an hour,
peacefully."
Everything You Have I Don't Have, I Never Wanted You, and Those Nights
by Lyn Lifshin, August 2004
"Even when you were living
it was like talking to a corpse."
style, impaled, and phonebill theatre
by Donna Kuhn, August 2004
"give me up; she answers like san francisco
investigate, take yr hairspray
i say write, write nothing"
Swimming Texas, Instant Armadillo Blues, and Last Stop: El Paso
by Lawrence Welsh, August 2004
"what happens
to the boys
who fall
for texas girls?"
Tonight and Beer and Eggs
by Jonathan Hayes, August 2004
"tells me to go with the asian teen-age hotties
sitting across from us on the subway
eating the same sandwich
all five of them"
