My Poor Mother’s Country Land by, Melissa R. Mendelson Green earth sways and rolls. This is my mother’s home, But mother, please forgive me. They don’t know the wrong they’ve done. Blue skies have fallen. The gray clouds have come, And here comes the thunder, Rolling in, Screaming at all they’ve done. Chorus: What have they done? […]
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There are many other possibilites. The busy homeworker sees more washing up to do. The cat sees something to knock over. The lovers see something to share. The conspiracy theorist sees that the water was drugged, and the glass had a gun and was on the grassy knoll. The racist believes that the glass will be stolen by immigrants. […]
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She Climaxed she starts with a song. suddenly, a dirge too limp with grief, like the skies in Pompeii. it’s killed the birds in my heart, ships stagger like a drunk, into the white-blush of maddened waves. the earth popped open as an old wine bursts froth; like a hungry lioness she opened her jaws separating families with […]
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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 […]
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Everybody Don’t Have Somebody The man in the ER, sutured and bandaged, told the nurse there wasn’t anyone she could call to give him a lift home. He said he’d take a bus once he had a chance to check his wallet and see if he had any money. He didn’t have much to begin with, he said, and the […]
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High Tea in Missouri They’re the oldest couple my wife and I know and we’re no pups either. Peter out for a walk leans on his cane often to admire my wife’s garden. The English roses remind him of home, he says, and one day he invites us over for tea at the civilized hour of 3. That day at 3 we enter an old world in […]
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AFTER THE FACT The mystery of history Reduces all to sophistry If fecklessly, not skeptically, Accept we its validity. Did Kennedy form strategy Preventing Cuban tragedy When quarantined Fidel at sea? Or was it serendipity? Did atom bomb need dropping on To-be-defeated-soon Nippon, Because Japan, to its last man, Would fight invasion hand-to-hand? Was Civil […]
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Making an Attempt An enclosed UBH hospital room is the first step to maintaining my privacy and treat my phobia to the outdoors. The second step is to visit a restaurant and eat a grilled cheese sandwich, along with mashed potatoes. I have a window to view the sky; I don’t need to visit a small park […]
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Song of America I. I see you, Walt Whitman, an American Rough, a cosmos! I see you face to face! I see you and the nameless faceless Faces in America’s ageless crowds of men and women who you saw in your mind’s eye. I see you crossing the river on your ferry. I see you walking […]
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ALAS – By Elaine Nadal I was told I have her eyes, her thick brows– didn’t think much of it: We all have something of someone. My sister has Aunt Natalia’s smile. My brother has Uncle Silo’s curly hair (back in the day when my uncle had hair). I was just glad I didn’t inherit Aunt Rosa’s squared shape. […]
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