Elizabeth, Mother of my mother, her knotted knuckles cradled my scraped elbows, the heaviness of my childhood heart. Her beauty unrepeatable, blistering. She stands hunched over the sink, peeling potatoes, buttering bread, in the yellow light of the pre-war kitchen she is ageless. When I think of home, I think of her, kindness dripping from her embrace like honey. […]
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Action Paint Stripper He did it: Bared around as a torn poster – Slashed in irrigation, blatant in life. Squeezing out worms, slugs And snakes ablaze; All burst to flood Then blended underlay – A laminated rainbow. His luminescence crossed exposure’s edge; Flesh writhed erogenous, Prime canvas scrubbed. Paint frames contorted To every edge and corner, […]
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THE “BIG BUST?” (Based on the theories of Canadian physicist Paul Marmet, 1932-2005, available at http://www.newtonphysics.on.ca/index.html) Suppose the “Big Bang” had never occurred, Was really just some Creationist’s word Embellished by physics theories absurd. Would “facts” accepted fall? Could ever have been an infinite mass Compressed to a point of volumeless plasma Destined to blast a universe […]
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MISS JULIE-ANNE – By John Grey She pours drops of whiskey on the withered rose petals. Then wields the hose with a cigarette flopping from her lower lip. What doesn’t intoxicate her flowers, she drinks. Ashes fall onto the buds. The bees will have to suffer for their pollination. She passes the graves of all her cats, apologizes […]
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ROMAN RUMINATION I went to visit ancient Rome, But found it never fell. Its buildings may seem crumbled stone, But it’s alive and well. Its mighty temples still exist Though in an altered form. Its rings of gold and amethyst Still fingers rich adorn. For in the City Vatican The emperor still reigns, Descended from Octavian, […]
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PLAINLY INSANELY Insanity’s defined as doing many times Exactly as before, expecting different ends. Like beating horses dead, expecting to revive But never with success, yet still repeating trend. When process rules the roost, can never deviate No matter if it makes unquestioned logic to. For once the grooves are set, no possible escape Like chariots from ruts […]
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An Act of the Will If love’s real, not the puppy kind, it’s not just a feeling but an act of the will a constant giving whether one feels like it or not. After many years you don’t know why you’re doing it or why It must be done. Two begin as grapes purple with passion unaware you’ll be raisins wrinkling at the end.
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My fingertips thrummed with your heartbeat which lapped at me, a tongue in a bowl, a ticking turn signal. I watched your breath grow downy with fear and hoped you could walk out of the room on your own. Bio: Valentina Cano is a student of classical singing who spends whatever free time she has either reading or […]
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The liquor bottle in the grass the blue recycling bucket likes you but not the trouble you come with. Danny P. Barbare resides in the Southern U.S. in the Upstate of the Carolinas. He has been writing poetry on and off for 33 years. He has several books available on amazon.com: Being a Janitor and Gathered Poems.
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TRICK OR TREAT? “Good Christians” warn that Halloween’s A festival of Satan, When nothing’s standing in between Your soul and its damnation. For centuries, they witches burned With little provocation. Eternal fire claimed they’d earned. For mercy — strangulation! The Inquisition paid you well For friend’s denunciation, Provided friend was rich as hell For Church’s confiscation. […]
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