for Philip Appleman Did Darwin name the world, or did you, Phil, in creating him for us? I swear a Galápagos tortoise inhabits my sleep. A dream broth. A cup of Genmaicha tea containing roasted grains of brown rice. It lays its eggs across the coral reef of my brain. Blonde. Blind. Without fish-mouth or [...]
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PEOPLE OF NEW YORK by Sally Ball
I know you are dying as always, even you big ones from Queens, or from Nyack, and I’m in the habit of checking the clock, midnight again. Again no phone call, no lungs expanding and contracting with some machine for a brain while the hospital empties and a family consents and either in person or [...]
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LIE DOWN WHERE THEIR FACES ARE by James Allen Hall
The woman across the street on her knees again, shut out in the snow by her husband. Every week, this ritual: a man, a crying woman, the blue cold earth that marries them. When he lets her in, she lays in bed next to him. He cries in her armpit. Even their dog lays down, [...]
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PERSONAL AD #1 (Pairs Only Matter In Poker) by Michael Schmeltzer
After C.D. Wright I wear garish makeup and make faces in the mirror. Which reminds me…do you want to hear my favorite joke? Two clowns walk into a bar: one with a sad face, the makeup frown thick and chalky as a hotdog bun; the other no face whatsoever. There never was a happy face. [...]
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THE CITY by Helwig Brunner, translated by Monika Zobel
Die Stadt zu Linien vereinfacht, abgeschminkt das eigene Gesicht. Häuser, Schritte und Gedanken sind aus demselben Material, Grafitstaub und Diamanten. Die Zeit steht, senkt deine Lider, um einmal jetzt zu sein, inmitten der schlafenden Welt, hellsichtig zugewandt den tappenden Fragen der Somnambulen. Helwig Brunner‘s work has been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies in [...]
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ECHOLOCATION: AERIAL SCRIPT by Helwig Brunner, translated by Monika Zobel
Echolot. Luftlinienschrift Die Fledermäuse, an ihre Laute gedacht, unhörbar, das Horchen also hinein in eine Stille, die keine ist; sie ziehn den Blick in den Dämmerhimmel, das Zickzack ihres Flatterfluges, samtpelzige Beinahvögel, die mit den Ohren schaun: Bilder hören. Wenig später sind sie entzogen, entflogen hinter die schwarze Jalousie der Nacht, gesättigt an den Blindstellen [...]
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THE SUPERINTENDENT by Justin Bigos
The air as still as bathwater, no breeze from Sheepshead, we carry clear plastic bags of empty bottles and cans, blue plastic bags of plastic bottles and milk jugs, we squeeze flattened boxes into open boxes, then tie it all in twine – but do we cover it in tarp in case it rains? He [...]
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DEVIL DANCER’S DAUGHTER by Laura Sheahen
What does your father do Dance Where in the jungle The jungle When In the night With feathers sharp feathers To what sound The beat from the heart of my mother extracted Where are the flames from The devil Where is the dance from The devil And the red mask from The devil I hate the [...]
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AFTER SAMSON BURNS HER FAMILY’S HOUSE AND GRAIN-FIELDS by William Kelley Woolfitt
Two ruined bodies, galena-black, tar-black, charred flakes of cloth, countenances gone. No ears, or eyes, or lips. Father, sister, offered to a god, fat and gorged, that I deplore; hands folded at the breastbone, as if fire was a balm that soothed, gave them repose; no hair to dress, no skin to wash and stroke. [...]
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ANTIPHON FOR THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD by William Kelley Woolfitt
a powder box and swans-down puff her limp stocking, a green satin fan spangled with dragonflies, curling-tongs small muslin bags, a pumice stone bits of skin, cut-glass bottles, cuticle knife, a darner, nail powder, sealing wax spirals of her hair, glove buttoner orangewood stick, gauze balls, shoe lift velvet brush, rabbit’s foot, pots of rouge [...]
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