Another country crumbles to rubbleand a neighbor approaches as we erect our fence—not even a neighbor, but the nephew of one,a long-term visitor with too many cars and a daughter, a toddler I’ve never seen outside—introduces himself, as he has been parkingfirst one car, then two, on the curb just outsidethis fence, the one we’ve been building piece by piece since he moved here.This place, … Continue reading Geopolitics by Brandy McKenzie
There are rabbits in the corners of our yards,sweet, fidgety marginalia ready to boltaway from you the moment you step nearas though you whispered the words of god. They will never understand prayers of comfortor welcome. Rabbits live in the world below,the warrens and hollows and empty spacesyou’ve tried and failed to eradicate. They only appear before you in orderto survive. It’s not as though … Continue reading Reminder: Medieval Rabbits Wore Armor by Brandy McKenzie
I have a friend—who—as a boy washung by a belt loop from a nail—of a doorframe—and left there—in midair—and flailing—andlaughed at—by his stepfather anddrunk friends—and it has struck me—as a metaphor—for a lot of things—then—one day—this friendfound—and lived in—the worldof Winesburg, Ohio—and “achedin an agony”—like Odysseus—butdifferent—for the beautiful loneliness—of small-town lives—and waited for—a train Continue reading In Midair and Flailing by Frank Freeman
There is no “perfect” model for anything. Whether it’s politics, economic systems or, in this instance, feminism. Yet, in death, the people that are meant to embody a particular “cause” are inevitably elevated to a status of near-sainthood (or simply as the “personification of the women’s movement,” per The New York Times). Gloria Steinem is one such person. For, in the wake of the announcement … Continue reading On the Unpleasant Reality Behind Gloria Steinem’s Brand of Feminism
subtexts vexxing,“them” people really believe in their story_moral-potential,after générations of ontological contorting,vatican_jesus = neo dressed in stockmarket_usury, colocated gloria, deity_expeditioneering with the consent, ogima native neighbors estranged & scalped in french then english,after good faith welcomings, global pillagers_camouflaged over the freckles, while chewing on délectables,‘talm‘bout‘this‘is‘mines for a while, “developing,” distance-engineering,fucking the dimensions,boring ytness_into_progress like frackking hollywood, sloppy while carcinogenic,lab_synthesized_pathogen_ridden-digital_vector_escape_usd_con_artistry scapegoating a.i.-skates, tourists self_enclosures on luxury timers, brazen, évasive, audacious, demanding, redfaced like … Continue reading Gastrointestinal by August Truly
Leave the light on you said You with one foot out the doorYou weren’t one for long goodbyesthough in truth you wanted more more More of this less of thatSpring came Winter passedWe tiptoed in the dark Our house was made of glass Home is never where you leave itEarth keeps turning turning roundSometimes you gotta get lostyou saidin order to be found Life moves on from room to room Death rarely waves goodbyeTell me what are the chances we make it out alive? Home … Continue reading Embers by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
Nanoparticles of plastic, preliminaryEvidence indicates, congeal likeForever knowledge in the human brain.In disproportionate amounts comparedTo elsewhere in the body. What to think?It is difficult to shrink-wrap the mindAround the evolving science of bodyPollution. Lucky it is that the brain’sPlasticity provides us elasticity to thinkBig thoughts about what we think aboutThe effects of our self-indulgent stupidity.Think about it, our retrograde gray matterWill not biodegrade, but be … Continue reading Plasticity by Bruce Morton
If you’re an avid (or even “casual”) reader, chances are, you picked up the habit early on in life. After all, it’s not something that most people tend to “take to” on a whim post-childhood or -adolescence. Particularly since that’s usually the period in one’s life when they become chained to a job (or several) until the end of their days (though not all of … Continue reading Dolly Parton, Literacy Advocate Extraordinaire
a large walleye jumpedfrom Lake Erie to be metby an eagle’s talons thirteen billion years evolvedto the walleye, the eagle,the water, the sky, the beach all assembled in acommunity of isnessonly nature could cause but outside this privateworld, man’s evil wasstalking the Earth a genetic code buriedin man’s beginning hadbirthed homicidal greed kings arose, unimpededby morals or empathyto murder for power, propagating perpetualviolence, ruining livesand … Continue reading The Immensity of Being by Ron Torrence
It’s not exactly “earth-shattering” news that, when it comes to serial killers, the American collective has a sick and macabre tendency to “romanticize” them. Not necessarily in what the conventional sense of what that word might mean, but in the sense of giving far more, let’s say, “reverence” and credit to them than they deserve. This, more often than not, comes in the form of … Continue reading Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women Puts a Spotlight on the Way Violent and Abusive Men are Not Only Allowed to Keep Getting Away with Literal Murder, But are Essentially Applauded and Falsely Mythologized Afterward
