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
Hill & Pool Street—corner of—strewn with flowers now—flowerpower—we drove by there—theother day—a cameraman filmingsorrow—just a corner on a hill—in Biddeford—the town across theriver from us—“Johan SebastiánDurán Guerrero was working inthe United States legally—he evenhad a social security card”—theone grandad told me to always—carry in my wallet—Johan lookshappy in this photo—on my phone—smiling—relaxed—a body—ofwater behind him—“The incidentwas witnessed by his partner andtheir three-year-old daughter”—last words—“I tried … Continue reading “Worst of the Worst” by Franklin Freeman
Plastic Bone.Works AtNight.All Alone.Outta Sight.Thinks AboutHerLifeOnLoan.ThinksAboutHerSaxophone.Thinks AboutHerHighHeelDress.ThinksShe KnowsShe KnowsWhat’s Blessed.Mannequin.Plastic Bone.Calls MeOn HerTelephone.Tells MeOf HerTimeOnEarth.Tells MeOf HerVirgin Birth.Hopes That She CanSplitTheScene.HopesThe LightTheLightTurnsGreen.HopesThe Line Is NiceAnd Short.HopesSheLikesHerNewEscort.Mannequin.Plastic Bone.Works AtNight.All Alone. Continue reading Mannequin by Charlie Robert
If I had a cosmic gavel,I would chip away the rough edgesof every monarch and politician,such as their territorial incursions,their inordinate desire for military aggression,their race for lethal armaments,their inherited urge for colonialism,their cultivated skill of turning a blind eye to corruption,their sadistic pleasure in imposing censorship,their patriarchal urge to bully women,and their propensity to overlook racial prejudices.The outcome would be blocks of ashlarthat boast … Continue reading The Gavel by Susie Gharib
At the intersection of ley lines,erected in pairs at temple sides,these stone pillars that point to the skiesare the Egyptians’ tribute to solar gods. Repeatedly looted by Greeks and Romans, these tekhens are unjustly deprivedof the sites aligned to the stars,robbing them of their electro charge.In Rome, they witnessed the persecution of Christians,In Paris, the guillotines that severed countless heads. What is a tribute to Atum … Continue reading Obelisks by Susie Gharib
Perhaps the first thing one must emphasize in talking about the Italian diaspora in the United States is that East Coast Italians are very much their own race of people now, entirely separate from Italians themselves (the real ones that arrived in the 1880s for the first wave of immigration). And they certainly seem to like it that way—are even proud of the “standalone” “culture” … Continue reading Chiara Barzini’s Things That Happened Before the Earthquake Reminds that Italians “Out West” Have, In Many Regards, Always Had It Rougher When It Comes to “Assimilating”
The judgment of death lowered upon all at the beginning of Genesis contains essentially everything that can be said about power. —Elias Canetti What is beautiful for Nature herself is the all-encompassing necessity of now. Life. Spring. Leaves. Move. Without the wind. Milkweed on ICE. The cream of the crop. Curdled. Art walks a tightrope between nature and eternity. The point is not to make … Continue reading Broken Dreams: A Lexicographer Picks Up the Pieces by Robert Witmer
To undress the corporate swindle and have him ride a stumbling donkey over palm branches strewn about in a hurricane such that the multitude might see what difference makes. Humbly to fit a natural self. To make real language possible again. Absolute reality is a calendar carved in snow, ticking like a time bomb. Dew on a mossy grave. Spring’s stultification of digital progress. Virga. … Continue reading Dada by Robert Witmer
