Political Currency
a poem-series by Francis Raven, January 2011
'Everything has become public:
"I'm not an autonomy gal
more self-development"
because everything is art
(if there's a restriction
you must contest it)'
Riding High After Midnight with Mary Jane
by Michael Grover, October 2010
"She's in the fucking title
So she's in the Poem
Which proves she's been around
Not that I'm a rat or nothin'"
Good Sex Illustrated
by Joseph Cooper, October 2010
'"I'm handing you this gun."
"What are you defending?"
"Between ghosts and subject matter," Father yelled
before beckoning Mother to the garage'
Chocolate Envy and Surya Namaskar
by John F. Buckley, October 2010
"Black people rule! Because all around,
they're in charge of everything. Oprah,
Tyra, Tiger, Obama, Kanye, even Beyonce.
They're black, they're proud, they're here to stay."
Third Canto: Secret Spectrum, Hidden Form and One More Border
by Robin Scofield, October 2010
"robbed by a restless horseman who could not
control the panthers that pull it. His horse
is lathered; eyes roll, rollicking
galaxies."
Flipping Burgers for the Free World... and Bare Bulb
by Ryan Quinn Flanagan, October 2010
"Flipping burgers for the free world,
you give all the garnishes
names.
A generous helping of Andrew Jackson"
Three Specimens by Mark Cunningham
October 2010
'We introduced him as a "slave work hero," but then we realized those words could have gone in any order.'
ache;then&now, Devour[d], and i hear you...
by Sarah Blakely, October 2010
"The drying petals on the sills flitted to the stone
floor and crackled between my dirty toes.
I loved you like candy hearts.
You were god, before I killed him."
Arguing Without Remorse, Shall We Compare Sorrows?, and overture
by john e, October 2010
"without the fire, I've lost my way on my own turf,
mysteriously bleeding inside, knowing this,
ambling on. Maybe it's the curse
of the moment when it becomes something else,"
Stray Pussy Cat's Sermon, to you for your mother, and Only salt, my friend
by Marream Krollos, October 2010
"we made music
as we tenderly stroked her face
we intervened only when
she refused to feed you"
At 161 West 49th Avenue and Postmodern Civilization
by Changming Yuan, May 2010
"Eat MacDonald's or Kentucky Chicken
Drink Coca Cola or Pepsi
Listen to Jazz or Rock'n'Roll
Smoke Kent or Marlboro"
anti-macchiato, The Messenger, and Floatsam
by M.P. Powers, May 2010
"mostpoems are diary entries
dressed in poetry's clothing
mostpoems are ironic
vignettes of deadspeak"
For Bob Dylan, A Sense of Humor, Lepers and Angels
by Alan Britt, May 2010
"Now, here comes that guitar, Bloomfield
twanging like a heart valve opening, closing, opening, saying
worship it your way, but worship it
like everyone's god-forsaken lives depend upon it,"
The Christian, Forgive My Forehead, and Skull Full O' Termites
by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, May 2010
"I forgive my forehead.
Sitting here I rub it.
I forgive my right hand.
I scratch my head all day."
The Poets, Around the Corner, and Size 8
by Holly Day, May 2010
"Pythagoras did his best work
in the dark, setting up his experiments
in the equivalent to
an isolation tank, eyes wide open"
Three Crones at the Crossroads, "Single file," and Cantalily's Prayer
by Robin Scofield, May 2010
"Pray for us, Coyote,
Now and in the hour of our roadslide"
Greywash Heat Sweep, Disverb, and Flaming Curtains Conceal
by Reuben Nash Dendinger, May 2010
"I've seen teenage girls sacrificed at the altars of underground punk cults where dagger-wielding vocalists scream society's funeral dirge
skinned alive and transformed by the naked violence of that poetry
cut up into pieces and mixed with the ashes of William S. Burroughs
boiled to shit and splashed on a Parisian drug dealer's doorstep"
jim carroll is nearing one hundred and ten thousand facebook friends, ashbery's status update, and ginsberg's profile pics
by Dennis Mahagin, May 2010
"choked up in a blast
of motes, i wish to take
down these diary notes"
The quality of carelessness that made them hate us so, Jane's Heir, and Concentration camp
by Linda Ravenswood, May 2010
"to whom do you make your appeal
at night, in the car, alone, at your 40th
birthday party, the one that never was;
do you think you will turn to your
children ? They never even liked you."
frith froth, evidence, and and whirly-giggy as the colors dance
by Steve Dalachinsky, May 2010
"they play laments
spacious liturgical almost — distended church bell
difficult sonorities — a whole new view
knocking on the doors of..."
selections from When You Come Again, You Will Never Go
poems by Andreas Morgner, with a video by Belinda Subraman, April 2010
"Children play. Each move tentative. The desire for fun struggling with a wary glance
Over the shoulder. A mother hovers close in case feet need wings. The guns love
Children the most. Each a potential recruit for others' wars."
decade
by Si Philbrook, April 2010
"our children will hate us. they must. not for simple lack of trust, or wanks disturbed, but for all the lies we hide behind, keep score would ya and choose the ones to make the cut; the tooth fairy, santa claus, and jesus; muhammed, yahweh, krishna all the lot; even here our own-sown lies deceive us, we just can't see that we are all we've got in this sad, cold life"
Cleaning Lady and Warsaw 2
by Melanie Sevcenko, April 2010
"I see how our bodies glide in opposition to
each other's size and structure
and how my bathing suit is low cut, unsexy
but brown and form-fitting to my tight bulbous body"
"The haystack of blood, fly swarms," "just give me your throat," and "i see roads to train tracks littered"
by Olivia Kennett, April 2010
"just give me your weathered hands
I will soak them in lanolin and hang them out to dry
Just give me the strands of your hair
I will weave them into a home"
Bipolar, A Chain of Days, and Chess
by Michael H. Brownstein, April 2010
"They tell me how jail cells cleanse the soul,
How hard nipples of silicon implanted breasts have a quality of egg yolk,
The sky a burden of sweat and peroxide,
How window casements shake with a current in rain."
Truth Versus Fiction, Bladderwrack, and Carol to the Universe
by Magdalena Ball, April 2010
"I reach for you over thought waves
little girl's hand
hung in the air
your absence, finally, matches reality
to imagination"
Two Buds, Alcatraz, and Waiting Room
by A.D. Hitchin, April 2010
"Living in
allegories. Mad for visions to be presented. Where dross burns,
burns. Prisons and asylums of mad
ones, each beautiful, fragile"
My Heart Shivered, Because I Was Never, and The Dating Service Deliciously Lustful Dream
by Lyn Lifshin, April 2010
"So much blood the
doctors said but no sign
of trouble. She would
be ok for now. I was
slamming back to him,"
a slow drift, train, and remarking on the sweat
by Steve Dalachinsky, April 2010
"sonically—the floor begins to tremble
& break into a sweat
as i do
there's no reason for reason or reasoning"
Three Poems from twenty-three poems derived from random word selections
by Michael Aro, April 2010
"posing in police uniforms
(a national impulse to be sure)
the courage to believe
that ideas lead to ideals"
The Parts Make a Whole. and Eating Words.
by Heather Brager, March 2010
"she was the scene
through a window
with the darkness
in his breath"
Little Chore Boy Black and In Space and Time
by Linda Rosenkrans, March 2010
"strawberry slugs
wrap around
los diablo's
down town"
Working the Wilderness Trail and Intrusion
by John Grey, March 2010
"Maple, you shouldn't have died here.
White pine, don't you know these
yellow markings mean human."
'... star stuff burning still in these ashes ...' and Immediate Enraptures
by Constance Stadler, March 2010
"prisms of snowflake
allusions
melt this frigid
alone."
Jacques Said and Blindfolds & Manacles
by Michael Brandonisio, March 2010
"Love who I am
one not like you
ever will
love"
art is a sublimated insurgency, writer's heartburn, and circle
by Omar Azam, March 2010
"If you find someone
to frame that turd
you made on the pillowcase
consider yourself lucky"
some such book, write through it, and idiot bar mitzvah
by Justin Hyde, March 2010
"you're the most
unhappy man
i've ever met,
said the brunette"
Too Early for This, I Stash Your Image, and Afterward
by Lyn Lifshin, March 2010
"Hardly a crow,
only a last blaze
of sun as if to
apologize for
all that's gone"
i in the you form, am in the are, you're in the our, or a mega maniac, "everyone is ghost," and the god of your shrug - or - i want to be annihilated by your mask
by Jason Neese, March 2010
"matrix mouth had the obscene density of televangelist tears. both quickly put out a retraction and became saved in waves under a small body of water that is later recanted and done again, then, cosigned by sin and your child-self which is actually trapped inside your adult-self wondering how the fuck it can get out
in a way that doesn't compromise your adult-self's position."
The Freedom Charter Blues
by Aryan Kaganof, February 2010
"There will be clichés for all, and sterotypes and hot air, especially the hot air shall be divided amongst all those who blow on it."
Two Translations of Pablo Neruda: Love and Sorrow and At Night
by Sigerson, February 2010
"So now tether me to your pure tempo,
that tenacity which in your breast beats
as if with the wings of a submerged swan,"
Total Elimination Cage Combat and Noah's Newer Vessel For Dilapidated Beatniks
by Ed Coletti, January 2010
"Poets from a past and darkly happy
Beatnik nation swarming
Up along the gangway
To some Buddhist cruise ship."
