“Don’t ever think the poetry is dead in an old man because his forehead is wrinkled, or that his manhood has left him when his hand trembles! If they ever were there, they are there still.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
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The Cross Near the Edge A too small cross in a big wayside shrine amidst the fields on the fertile loess soil, soon to be devoured by the bucket wheel excavator, a monstrous word for an even more monstrous machine. The shrine made of dark red brick, plain, simple, solid, almost for eternity, like the many farmhouses here; […]
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Crossing the Red Line (triptychon III) 1. On the Map On the map: The red line of the lignite opencast mine, an absurdly long compound noun for an absurd, behind the times mega project. What can be found, here and now, this side and that side of the red line? I experience it by bike. 2. That […]
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Edits Don’t Exist Right Now Light shines through the tiny space between shade and wall highlighting her curve and the wrinkled sheets next to her point to the bassinet turning a whole new emotion. A joy unknown now near fully realized and permanent—something to live and die for. They’re both real, breathing quietly in the next room. The hum of […]
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■ Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho has been writing poetry for most of his life, but because he was living on the side of the road in Sao Paulo, Brazil, only a few passersby ever read it. That changed when one of those readers, Shalla Monteiro, created a Facebook page to share Sobrinho’s poems with the world. The page attracted some 40,000 […]
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WINTER IN A FACTORY TOWN It’s the winter before winter. And the winter after winter. Everything’s stripped bare. The winds bluster like politicians. Only with cold air, not hot. Month after month, eyes can only stare, lips are too frozen to speak. The birds have flown south and are staying there. Just like senior management, except the top […]
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Last Tuesday nobody was answering any emails except for the people who were waiting for answers only other people could give. there were rooms which needed stuff moved out, but the price had gone up because now the work had to be done out of hours. and someone was looking for numbers on feminine hygiene waste products used in […]
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The Best Chinese Restaurant he told me their best chinese restaurant was shut – it had been connected by the back wall to a vet clinic specifically for putting down animals. the sad eyes of dogs looking up at their owners, unable to understand their legs going cold. fuck it. death visits when you’re out and doesn’t leave a […]
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Camouflage plunging deeper into my miseries i come out of myself, reading threnodies even the camouflage’s lost its colour i will watch from the sidelines until i finally drown; until the last flicker bows to the tossing, to the darkness.
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Tequila (V5) By Michael Lee Johnson Single life is Tequila with a slice of lime, Shots offered my traveling strangers. Play them all deal them jacks, some diamonds then spades, hold back aces play hardball, mock the jokers. Paraplegic aging tumblers toss rocks, Their dice go for the one-night stand. Poltergeist fluid define another frame. Female dancers in the […]
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