Strangers Waiting For 2 Different Trains We both spent hours waiting on the line for a ticket to Shakespeare in the Park. I saw her on the blades of grass, supine while I stood up behind her on a lark I’d talk to her. “What’s the play about,” she asked, before I knelt on down beside her to explain, ‘The […]
Read more
TONIGHT’S EARLY MORNING I open my window in the middle of tonight’s Early morning after the nightly thunderstorms To hear the cry of a lone bird flying through the fog And looking for a place safe and dry, his wings Weighted down with water and sleepiness The way I am weighted down with the memories Of her laughter […]
Read more
Shattered ambitions litter the roadside of expectations, ignored by parents, neglected by school, yet filled with all the yearning that are youth made vulnerable, so when a kind man paid attention, told of the blessings of Allah, the kinship of true believers, it was an easy task to reveal the afterlife, the promise of fulfillment for servants of Islam […]
Read more
you didn’t give a f**k for anything’ except love’ and art. it was the precipice that kept it sane’ kept it afloat even as you slid further and further away in real life and newly rediscovered sanctimony. even as we lay side by side and the workers could glimpse us as they worked the neighboring flat. It sits […]
Read more
Tangled Drawing the cross slices tramline nuggets, Sizing out torture’s cavity, Wrenching the hopeful – slashes, threads all. The anchor is split, tossed on a shroud, The elements burgeoning right. The chain is rusted, marking starfish, Shakes in a ticking melody. Calipers rented, mayhem dented, Cholesterol’s bulb fouls the maggots away; All pupae are gelled, numb triplets they […]
Read more
Journey (For My Father) I wish I could say that we are like any other father and daughter. I wish that I could say that we are the best of friends, but it took us a long time to get here. I wish I could say that I could tell you anything, everything, but you still would not understand. […]
Read more
Insignificance Late in life I struggle against my insignificance When I should enjoy the freedom from performance before an audience. Applause is happiness but if they withhold applause, embarrassment. When Da Liu put me to work crunching hexagrams and spreadsheet numerology Instead of ghost writing his books about T’ai Chi for longevity I was humiliated but freed. No need to […]
Read more
Hey you Yeah you I heard your conversation You’re leaving us? Yeah, well just know one thing This isn’t such a sweet little town Oh, believe me, it’s not a sweet little town This town has some crazy shit going on Would you believe me if I told you– Wait, you’re not going to believe me Come on, look at […]
Read more
Flying a Sign – By Chrystal Berche Wild eyed woman, her hair a mess Shakes as she goes person to person begging for cigarettes A foot away an old man sleeps, his head pillowed on a graying jacket ‘Will work for food’ printed neatly on a sign tied to his chest What place is this where ‘flying a sign’ is […]
Read more
House for Sale in Shady Acres The question isn’t why your little world is suddenly going to hell. The question is what can you do about the black couple touring the house on your block where the sign just went up day before yesterday. The neighbors are calling and everyone’s asking what can be done before they buy it. Old Smitty is barely cold in […]
Read more