( Athens, Texas )
Robert Klein EnglerMuch Like Oppenheimer's Dilemmamy intent is not to make light but isn't this everything? isn't it ever this urge to press my mouth against your everything uncontrollable? inconceivable? inevitably explosive?
( Chicago, Illinois / New Orleans, Louisiana )
Ace BoggessLessons
That student I want asks about fire.
Our age stands between us like a boulder.
He sees my eyes weary with desire.
I see the chip on his shoulder.
( Huntington, West Virginia )Consider Abstract SubjectsHoroscope (Libra: September 7, 1999)
The Moon-Woman by Jackson Pollack
Wearing two-faced mask of night,
sultry fire-skin profile underneath:
she's the great, ambivalent vagina,
speaking in words which become
the stars, confuse reasonable men.
Her breasts form an hourglass
set to someone's blue-green infinity.
At her center, everything: intestines,
candle's flame, parasites, ovaries,
dasein reflections nebulous &
depicting the soul for a thing-that-is,
but isn't. Over her shoulder lurks
the sun's flower, a hungry erection
giving light & taking darkness,
dim romance. She's sulfur,
rock salt, as much gristle as candy.
The rest is menstrual blood, disorder,
abyss & universe, her home.
( Las Vegas, Nevada )
I studied French in high school and rememberSpeaking French in the ShowerWhile dampening my hair and skin,
The hot water wakes my body;
I know my time alone is limited.
Utilisation: Versez une petite quantité de
shampooing parfumé sur une éponge pour le corps.
absentminded, I study the plastic soap bottle.
Faites mousser et rincez.
Après usage, rincez l'éponge et laissez-la sécher
à l'air ambiant.
En cas de contact avec les yeux, rincez à l'eau.
Seuls la nature et Yardley peuvent donner à votre
peau ce qu'il y a de mieux.
Le shampooing hydratant pour le corps de Yardley of London
nettoie et hydrate votre peau sous la douche.
Il renferme des produits naturels qui adoucissent et
protègent votre peau.
au revoir.
( Stow, Ohio )Alan BrittHow I Saw It
Black opaque nylons
running and mending
as he ripped away
on drenched highway
into another storm
( Reisterstown, Maryland )
Vicki Hudspith, Two PoemsSirens
The moon travels
through your hand.
Your blood
turns green.
The red-haired
street light's
aureole
first appeared
in Gustov Klimpt's
The Kiss.
Sirens
like starving cheetahs
sniff my bare legs.
( New York, New York )Tunnel of Love
Where ferries travel in earnest
People run sweating
Cars and trucks overshoot the red light
A tonnage of brick and glass weights down
The river's edge
Five years ago it was landfill
Approximating human recreation
There is no darkness only light
Spring is unrelenting in its optimism
I will carry full pockets
Like a willing slave to the pyramids
Your love
And see you with mirrors in the angles
Of indirect sunlight
Bounced off corridors into ever smaller pin dots
Camera obscura
Viscera elucida
Lead weight love
The ha ha of adhering images
Tearing pinholes in my heart
A pleasantly disturbing atonal scale
Banished from earth orchestras
But the river knows the symmetry of cycles
The size and proportion of this modern affliction
Egg beaters in the sky monitor the weather
And our daily chant
To be given happiness in a lifetime of sporadic peace
Your voice
Listening to music beyond comprehension
You are beyond my comprehension
And I am so Kleenex
Like Ice in a Glass
Was it your house I called
As rain poured through my eyelids
Drenching resolve
To be a better person
The way you deserved
But resilience is lacquer
And all I could say
Was the usual assortment
I wanted to be different
Full of optimism and hope
Not sticking pins in everything
I was ready like ice in a glass
Heart pounding loudly and flying around
Like too much cologne
Heels tap linoleum
Gas heat clings
Like the handles of the living
I'm hardly a hero. I'm barely alive.
Important to you, but crowded with lies
We want to be different but it's all the same
Too much motion
Too much action for the truth to hide
Virtue tears me in half
The way old lovers do
Who knows maybe I'll
Devour a meadow of clover
Like a lost flock of one
Love's bandit
Intoxication, hook and line
Just spare me more wisdom
And let me dwell in your fragrance
One more time
I - Driving With Strangers
II - Water Bird Practicing On Concrete
III - Double Layers
Contributors
Summer 2001 Issue
Home