Ian Copestick
That so called experts
Still didn’t entirely know
Why it is we sleep. Of
Course we need to
Both physically and
Mentally rest, but they
Didn’t fully get it. I do.
If our lives weren’t
Broken up somehow
Into easily digestible
Pieces, we’d go insane.
” Tomorrow’s another
Day “, ” Sleep on it ”
” It will look better in
The morning “. All of
Those platitudes would
Be gone. Looking at
Life as one huge
Uninterrupted whole
Would be more than
The human mind can
Stand. Sleep helps us
To forget and to put
Things into perspective.
Without it, we’d go raving
Mad. Even more than
Usual.
John Grey
THE UGLY TOURIST
The locals don’t understand.
Why are you here among us
if you’re not buying our trinkets,
paying cash to take photos
of our hard leathery faces?
I’m trying to immerse myself
in the culture of these people.
Yes, they have dances and rituals,
beliefs and behaviors
with symbolic meaning,
religious significance.
But they just can’t afford them right now.
Ian Copestick
J.J. Campbell
David Sprehe
David Sprehe
1:26 a.m.
The walls close in
Brain shutting down
In an attempt
To put it off until tomorrow
In my guts
I feel the IT
Whatever it is
Will win out
But lucky for me
At the bottom of that
Sludge blackened
Pit
There is a laughter
At times so defiant and insane
I fear it
It appears in my dreams
Throwing an arm around my shoulders
Pulling me in close
So it can whisper another joke into my ears
David Sprehe
A long drive ahead
Blue cigarette smoke
Dancing stop and go
Out the cracked window
Foam cup full of Diet Cola in the holder
One of Bach’s
Playing through the radio speakers.
Heaven.
A fool’s heaven.
A fool’s heaven indeed.
Ian Copestick
We’ve been together for 16 years
Over a third of my life has been spent
With this woman. So maybe you can
Understand just how painful this is.
But I doubt it. It’s the first long term
Relationship I’ve ever had, and at my
Age it’s probably going to be the last.
Although we haven’t got any children
Together we’ve got a cat and a dog
That might as well be. It will destroy
Me to lose them, but if it’s what I
Must do to preserve my sanity, or
Prevent myself from facing a murder
Charge. It sadly is what I must do.
J.J. Campbell
K.W. Peery
RAMONA’S PLAN
When Ramona
strolled out
of Edgewood
Cemetery
after pissin’
on her late
husband’s
grave
She said
she wouldn’t
make time
for another
goddamn man
until the
earthworms
had finished
Or the
son of a bitches
life insurance
dried up
before her
Medicare
could
kick in
John Patrick Robbins
Things I Can Never Say
That my road is certain.
Or I have a clear direction with my words.
That I will cast aside the bottle for good.
Or choose the company of one over the misery of isolation.
I can never pretend to be anyone’s true friend.
And most of all I can never say .
I love you more than myself .
Honesty hurts .
So it’s best you ask a liar than someone as damaged as me .