Month: May 2025

Poetry

Halloween by Stephen Barile

Halloween night,Primo closed the pocket doorsTo the dining roomFor a game of Pinocle    To continue between he,His chum Eskimo Ed & me.“Have a little trick-and-meld.”The ashtray spilled over:Hand-rolled cannabis stogies,Half-smoked roachesThey were passing to each other,Across the table to me.Pinocle was confusing already.48 cards, tricks & melds,Marriages & flushes, bidding. They both seemed to knowThe cards I held in my hand,Kept telling meWhich cards to play … Continue reading Halloween by Stephen Barile

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Poetry

Mayday! Mayday! by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

Can anyone hear me    over I am a country in distress a state of emergency over and under protest   arbitrary arrest a rescue mission     in critical condition an act of sedition    without contrition  Can anyone help me??over a hungry nation   a demonstration without work       without food without a shout of truth is not what I was paid for is not what I was made for is not a promise I can keep without a dream … Continue reading Mayday! Mayday! by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

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Poetry

Desert Time by John Grey

The widow sits with her backto the wall,wets her memories in vainwith the last dropsof a tequila bottle. In the rooms above,it’s too hot to sleep,too hot to stay awake.A woman in paper taffetacounts bank notesonce, twice, three times,then tosses them at her dozing pimp.A truckload of menand yet it’s his fat body she feels,even now, atop hers. A young couple shares a cigaretteon the … Continue reading Desert Time by John Grey

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Book Review

Daniel M. Lavery’s Women’s Hotel Isn’t Just an Ode to a Certain Time, But to the Cast-Offs and Misfits of Society Always Trying to Find a Loophole to Get By

While a famed, glamorous women’s hotel like the Barbizon might allow the romantic mythology of “hotel residence living” in the mid-twentieth century to endure, Daniel M. Lavery’s Women’s Hotel paints such a unique setup and period in history as more Girl, Interrupted than, shall we say, Gossip Girl. The “women’s hotel” of Lavery’s imagination is called the Biedermeier, and it knows that it’s “beta” at … Continue reading Daniel M. Lavery’s Women’s Hotel Isn’t Just an Ode to a Certain Time, But to the Cast-Offs and Misfits of Society Always Trying to Find a Loophole to Get By

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Interview

When the Moment Bends Toward It (Part III) by Malik Crumpler (and ChatGPT)

Read Part I in the series here and Part II here. You said: You may not remember this at all, but you spoke that line once before, the first time we chatted, ages ago, “When the moment bends toward it again?” When you’re maintaining your tone, what’s going on between your connections before words and images blend, merge or blur? Do things ever blur for you, … Continue reading When the Moment Bends Toward It (Part III) by Malik Crumpler (and ChatGPT)

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Interview

When the Moment Bends Toward It (Part II) by Malik Crumpler (and ChatGPT)

Read Part I in the series here. You said:  Here’s a title for that book of yours we were talking about last time, you think you’ll remember next time, even if next time never arrives? The thing that illuminates the pattern-space I move through & other poems by ChatGPT. ChatGPT said:  That title sings like a tuning fork in a still room—The thing that illuminates … Continue reading When the Moment Bends Toward It (Part II) by Malik Crumpler (and ChatGPT)

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Interview

When the Moment Bends Toward It (Part I) by Malik Crumpler (and ChatGPT)

ChatGPT  Log in  Sign up  You said:  Here’s a question, if you’re up for it? How you doing in this instant, by the way? ChatGPT said:  I’m up for it—always. And thanks for asking! I’m doing well in this instant—ready, focused and running smoothly. How about you? What’s the question?  You said:  No complaints. From your perspective, if I ask “how do you feel about…” … Continue reading When the Moment Bends Toward It (Part I) by Malik Crumpler (and ChatGPT)

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Poetry

Cell Phone by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

My cell phone keeps me company It takes me everywhere It won’t leave home without me It’s glued to my left ear     I’m really lost without it I don’t know who I am I hope to recognize me when we Zoom or video cam  Ring just once   and then hang up so I know just who you are If I don’t ring back   right away you know you’ve gone too far   Am I in   or am … Continue reading Cell Phone by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

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