Bullshittin’ Late at night, when confronted by A gun-totin’ fool outside the bar, You just know the gutless wonder Demanding money is bullshittin’. But then, Messieurs Smith & Wesson In a shaky hand, might not, in fact, be Bullshittin’. So, bye bye wallet and Bye bye my whole last two bucks. Which, when my robber checks The take, he laughs and gives it back. “You need this more than me, dude.” Out of the goodness of his evil heart, He hands me a crisp new Jackson, Then disappears into the darkness. Truly a fine gentleman. Perhaps, I’ll Meet him later, in the slammer, Since I got arrested for, sucker that I am, trying to spend a crisp new ‘Counterfeit’ twenty dollar bill.
Paul Tanner
musk we did it with the window closed and the little plug-in heater going full whack. afterwards we lay marinating in our puddle. my eyes boiled in their sweaty sockets. the ceiling vibrated, purple. everything looked purple and hummed: the walls, her. even the air was starting to bleed. I couldn’t breathe and I didn’t mind. I was being choked in the aftermath and it felt like I was still cumming, like I’d cum and choke into eternity. I do like our musk, she said and did a theatrical sniff of the air, her nose pointing up like a cartoon character sniffing out a delicious pie. we’re proper fucking potent together, us! and lit a fag. the smoke of her duty-free Marlborough Light baked us in her humming purple box. I’ve been being cooked alive ever since.
Ian Copestick
Day By Day Day by day I'm forgetting more, and more about you. How you smelled, how your lips felt. I hate it, but I can't stop it happening. Next I'll forget your voice. I hate it, but I can't stop it happening. Day by day you disappear more and more. I hate it, but I can't stop it happening. God ! How I miss you !
Tony Dawson
Slough Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, There isn't grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death! John Betjeman 1937 First. verse Moscow Fall friendly bombs on dread Moscow much more deserving than poor Slough. Stand up, Putin; take a bow, Meet your fate, Death! You must get your just deserts, especially if it really hurts, both you and your grim perverts. Gasp your last breath! Destroy the city and the thug who sits at that table looking smug as he sets out to pull the plug on all mankind. Don’t forget Lavrov whose droopy features reveal the most cynical of creatures. Oh, he’s a credit to his teachers: Evil defined. And smash Russia Today (not tomorrow) And smash those who are spreading sorrow. Let’s see them all light up like flambeaux. Burn, baby, burn! And don’t spare the oligarchs who add to the profits of the repulsive Vlad. They are greedy rather than mad. Some never learn. They can’t pretend they didn’t know Vlad’s grand plan. It’s only the dough that interests them, going with the flow. Send them to Hell! Each one’s been delighted with his lot, spending millions on a superyacht while leaving compatriots to rot. Hear their death knell. Putin kills civilians by the score in this criminal act of war. He exudes venom from every pore. It’s payback time. Fall friendly bombs on dread Moscow, ensure it’s no longer fit for plough. Let nothing thrive there now. And spread quicklime.
J.J. Campbell
these dirty thoughts those long legs look like they need to be wrapped around my head a few times plus, she's here because of an injury, so maybe she won't put up much of a struggle of course, i'm kidding all of these dirty thoughts stay trapped in my mind no lucky soul has found the key to unlock these gifts ------------------------------------------------------ which way the buzzards are going late winter, early spring the days where you look to the sky and see which way the buzzards are going death can be a little jarring when everything is supposed to be coming to life that happens when you forget the first rule of life it will end
Daniel S. Irwin
On-Line Ads I should very much like These on-line ads for Miraculous drugs and Amazing techniques Which all promise a Rock hard erection to Immediately cease. That is, unless they Come with a woman.
Emalisa Rose
Pimping my poetry What began as a hobby, fitting in between kids and the groceries, leads to obsession; no longer pastime but the day’s main event. You see that you like it. You want to be noticed and hope that the lits like it. So, what came from the gut, now needs the seamstress. You tweak and you modify, in accord to the monthly theme; its ethnicity, demographic, even its politics. As you change/rearrange, geared to the place you’re submitting. So, Joe becomes Javiar. Mary, Maria; the Goldbergs, the Smiths now, etcetera, etcetera. The knish on line three, becomes manicotti, or arroz con carne, dropping the carne, for the zen and the vegan blogs. And the scene shifts location; the Bronx, now Belize, Manhattan, the midwest. You write what you live, but you kill off your accent. Fuggedaboutit Brooklyn, when you meet with the higher brow. And you write and you write till your knuckles turn green, some nights, not sleeping just you and the moon man and a half pack of Marlboros.
Jennifer Lee Novotney
Dinner for Two We went out to dinner just the two of us. You wore a buttoned-down shirt with a collar that framed your freshly shaven face. I, in a dress & heels, tired, shivering a bit from the cool air. How many dinners have we had like this one? The memory of them fades like a replica, a watermark in a book that wanes with each page until barely perceptible. We were happy once. Maybe we’re happy now thirteen years later. What will it be like in another decade or two? Will we still be sitting across from one another quietly searching for conversation, holding hands out of habit rather than desire.
Ken Rutkowski
Gwil James Thomas
06. 03. 2022. Disorder by Joy Division randomly plays on my mix, as I stare out of the window at my mum’s house - cracking open a beer, whilst the sun outside sets on the city and another week dissolves. Footage of war and brutality, plays on mute through the TV. I think back to the years I spent in Spain and a Ukrainian girl in my Spanish class. She was cute and we met for coffee and broken Spanish several times, before she eventually returned to Ukraine. But I think of her now, with no way of knowing how she is and I pray she’s okay - as I stare back outside, at the sky and birds - thinking of the bombs dropping elsewhere and how it looks so unfairly beautiful and peaceful here, for now.
