J.J. Campbell
something charming
i believe
the waitress
caught me
staring at
her tattoos
on her right
arm
these are the
moments where
i wish my smart
ass was also
clever enough
to come up
with something
charming to say
this is the
problem of
never growing
out of that
awkward
phase of life
you feel helpless
watching woman
after beautiful
woman walk
away
it’s pure
fucking
torture
Robert J.W.
Drying The Bones
I tore out my
skeleton
bone by
bone
and placed it by the
sun to
dry from
years of
crying.
The crackling of the
cartilage was like
fireworks,
lighting up the
sky with
effervescent catharsis.
By now, a
crowd gathered to
watch as I
placed my
skeleton back into my
flesh.
They watched in
terror as every
bone snapped into
place but they’ve
never been
reborn
I suppose;
they cried and
screamed while I just
shrugged,
smiled, and
strutted away.
***
Jake Cosmos Aller
The Revolution is Coming
A revolution is coming
I can feel it in my bones
A revolution is coming
And it will wipe out
The collapsing edifices
Of the American Empire
The masses are rising up
To throw off their chains
And demand justice
The masses are coming
For the masters of the universe
Their day is numbered
And they know it too
One day
The masses will rise
Storm the citadels of power
Arresting the corrupt leaders
In the name of revolutionary justice
Stringing them up
Executing them
One by one
As the revolutionary fires
Consume the nation
And I can’t wait
For the revolution
Is long over due
Carolyn Adams
Last Pack
She’s sitting on a trashcan,
sad and smoking, bummed-out
low-rent hipster girl.
Death of the Passerine
Rain comes hard, shaking her bed,
drenching her, but that isn’t
what kills her.
How to Distinguish a Raven from a Crow
Truth is a lie that’s shined its shoes
then gone to town
with good intentions.
Grant Guy
in a world whose heart has been extracted
By
Grant Guy
in a world whose heart has been extracted from hope
i am on my own w/o a name or face
i stand in my naked clothes of deception
behind a dead mic
i howl & howl & whimper & whimper
to an empty space w/o dimensions
but no one no one has come to hear me
my words are the empty words of a dying antonin artaud
sputtering meaningless syllable & yaps for hours on end
cruelty and kindness are dismembered
& thrown like johnny’s appleseeds
into the long loneliness of the void beyond nothing
b/c i am god’s orphan
His Story: An Observation
By
Grant Guy
His wife’s stroke he turned it into a story being all about him
His father-in-law’s funeral became all about him.
When Reagan was shot it was definitely a story about him
Oh, let us not forget about his sister dying from leukemia
Nor to mention the molestation and murder of the 69 year old housewife
The Blue Jays winning the World Series
The bus plunge in El Salvador I
n his mind they were all about him
That was the kind of guy he was
So when he died
And no one showed up
It was all about him
Sondy Squirrel
March Madness
The 9th.
First i found him down
by the trash cans
near the gate
on the west side
afterdark.
Made a leap frog formation
of the tall city refuse bins
and he wobbled
to the porch
and crawled
past the
threshold.
Something seemed broken.
He moaned.
He never showed pain
Never complained.
This time he groaned.
He drank too much
to gain the courage
to yell at God
in the sky
about
losing…”ALL OF THE GUNNERS!
HOW CAN I LIVE?!?”
The 14th.
We had dinner.
There was no way
his blood sugar could plummet.
He’d forgotten
he had done his
evening insulin twice.
I found him
hugging a pillow
cross-legged
by the front door
as if he wants
to leave
and address God
in person…
rocking as in distress.
Eyes wild and face contorted
He barely uttering
“I’m waiting. I’m waiting,”
I grew tired of this vigil
of waiting too
when i
wouldn’t be ready
or awake or alert
I’m yelling to the heavens
Too.
“Not yet!!”
The 22nd.
I’d read the crap
From the 2 ER visits already…
“Performed complete physical.”
Bullshit.
The 22nd.
Our third trip to the ER.
Me waiting and warming up
my car while the EMTs worked to stabilize him
In “the bus”.
A greyhound
To what lies After?
Couldn’t weep.
Just prayed they’d send him this time to the VA to live Damnit.
Long enough to
Dry Out.
2 days later
I said
“YES! INTUBATE!”
He hasn’t signed an advanced directive or DNR,
neither will I.
And a wound
and PICC line
in the intensive care unit
keep him alive longer.
And a nephew comes in and gets Power of Medical
Attorney
Have at it
I’m harried from March
like a
Madd Hatter who’s
avoiding this
date with death.
Vietnam set some internal
alarm
in him.
4 months plus
in Topeka VA
Mental Health.
He’s gone home
to a new address.
I’m not allowed to save him
anymore.
The VA social worker said,
“He’s tired.”
Of his wife grabbing him from
The Grim Reaper.
I won’t be celebrating
Halloween.
Pubic
After my son died in my arms
I was unemployable and divorce was a bonus to death.
I got a job in a topless strip joint to pay my bills.
My family was appalled.
I didn’t care.
Dad said I won’t disown you no matter what you do.’
My Johnson County Mom did and big sis followed suit.
Okay sometimes I did wear my entire birthday suit and danced off homemade costumes why not?
Exploitation? No way. I took home wads of cash a day from any lonely sucker or knowing mother fucker i grew fond of and well that goes both ways.
Off I-70 you get ‘em all. Truckers salesmen drug peddlers with jars of white crosses.
I had no kids nor habit to support and
Pulled double shifts to cover a no-show for a $3 line of meth.
One day a Jack Henry suit walked in and paid his $10 to watch and didn’t go in the porn room. It was slow before afternoon.
I danced just for him.
He was creepy.
But i sat with him, robed up a cigarette for self defense between us and he scribbled a note.
“Can i have some pussy hairs to put under my pillow for $50 bucks?”
I answered ‘Sure”, like it was asked every day and hurried to the dressing room to consult with Iris…my ‘mentor’.
She grabbed her toenail scissors from her makeup case snipped a bit of curly headed hair off my head wrapped it in a tissue and pushed me back into the arena.
Never saw him again.
I spent it on nice lipsticks.
Hallelujah
I’m not a single mother
anymore.
I knew
when he turned thirty.
Now it’s my turn and I’m
preparing a path
with Purpose.
And plans.
Never had time to grieve the gone.
So now’s the time
Or NEVER.
Not an option it seems.
I think I’ll grow old if i don’t
fill in the holes
with dirt and tears.
What grows in salty soil?
A beach where
I dreamed dad said goodbye
before setting sail.
And Jack made a heart
in his ashes the
next
day
random scatter it was noon
before at
Wonder Lake.
There’s something
Never quite finished
Bout suicides.
And my first son just died an unnatural death.
I was busy with work and 2 year-old whining about potty training.
Fearsome Fours.
Daycare
Then kindergarten and how fragile
First grade.
Soccer practice
T-ball.
Can’t tear up with water.
What would Jake do.
He was already delicate of spirit
An old soul.
Jr High is like high school
Now.
Kept condoms in a basket.
Had the talk about…
“Sure son virginity until marriage is certainly an idea.”
Then there was Kristy
And the faux pregnancy scare on April Fools Day.
But his friends passed bongs
in this Mom’s home.
No juvey hall
Or trips to the court house.
No young women were allowed.
Hallelujah.
Then a car at 16.
Finally finishing at KU.
And he took on a near impossible career choice
with only training on the job.
He called home a lot.
Needed explaining.
Suicidal ideation
IS really scary son.
Let’s figure this out.
Call a doc and call me back.
“I did Mom. I feel better already.”
And we talked for two or more hours a lot.
Until he turned 30.
And he’s teeming with joy.
Shaina did that too.
We trained him to smile and laugh
at little stuff.
Seems it’s time for a few tears now.
Hallelujah
Matthew Borczon
Larry
spoke about
himself
in the
third person
and had
a permanent
boil on
his cheek
the size
of an apple
he had
worked at
the adult
book store
for years
as 1st
shift manager
at the
end of
every day
he would
tell us
to be sure
to remember
“call Larry
in case
of cunt”
so we
called him
Larry the
cunt and
in my
year at
the book
store no
woman
ever came
in to
buy or
sell anything
much less
give it
away
so we
never called
Larry or
thought much
about him
after his
shift ended.
the adult book store
it was
a job
I could
get without
a resume
just 3
references
and the
ability to
run a
cash register
so I
learned the
price of
dildos and
the difference
between
Ginger Amber
and Mercedes
Lynn I
learned never
ask a
customer what
can I
do for
you on
Gay Movie
Monday and
a hundred
other things
I would
never get
to use
in the small
town college
I went to
not as
a freshman
anyway
Adult books and toys
some of
the dildos
were so
big I
could not
imagine
who could
use them
and the
local drag
queen was
better looking
than most
of the
girls I
went to
college with
and one
night a
guy OD’ed
in the
big video
room but
after the
police and
paramedics
left the
mess was
no harder to
clean than
the piss
and jizz
on the
floor of the
peep show
booths in
back.
Michael Lee Johnson
Heaven is My Horse Fly (V2)
By Michael Lee Johnson
A common horse fly
peripatetic traveler
vacationing in my world
into my bathroom,
(ride me cowboy, fly)
it’s summer time-
lands on my toilet seat
pit stops at Nikki’s Bar & Grill,
kitty litter box, refuels.
Thirteen round trips
buzzing my skin and skull-
he calls them “short runs.”
Steady pilot, good mileage,
frequent flier credits.
I swat his war journey,
splat, downed, then, an abrupt end.
Grant Guy
She Sleeps Soundly Beside Me
By
Grant Guy
I reached out to her but she was gone
She sleeps soundly beside me
Our voice had stopped kissing in the fog of time
She sleeps soundly beside me
I kept my hands in my pocket
When she needs a hand to reach the zenith
She sleeps soundly beside me
The hot afternoon of love flows
As a river to the vast ocean
She sleeps soundly beside me
Now bitter tongues remain silent in the halls of romance
She sleeps soundly beside me
Our words are bullets of dystopic of open wounds
She sleeps soundly beside me
She sleeps soundly beside me
And I nightmare in exchange
She Said. I Said
By
Grant Guy
She said, “Ever used cocaine?”
I said, “No.”
She said, “It will make you really horny.”
I thought to myself, ”
She wants me.”
She snorted to show me how it is properly done.
I snorted.
I fell asleep.
She went to the bar and got laid.