Martha Silano: I’m Not So Good at Corpse Pose
We’ve just woken from the dead, having been in deep rest,
when she rouses us with a clanging bell
Gertrude Stein: Two Poems
All this and not ordinary, not unordered in not resembling.
Barbara Hamby: Athena Ode
Road diva, divine mixologist, cancan dancer
of the mandible wars, show me the way of mind
over what’s-the-matter-with-you, girl, swirling from mouths
of righteous dudes.
Barbara Hamby: St. Clare’s Underwear
there’s your average man, hirsute and raging with testosterone,
Godzilla incarnato, King Kong with big feet, Frankenstein
hovering over some delectable damsel with skin like fresh pastry
Video: The Affected
Passengers and crew on a commercial flight question their ethics when an attempt to stop a deportation occurs on their flight minutes before take-off.
Arlene Weiner | Dear Editor:
We’ve subscribed to your magazine for a long time. We remember your recommendations for canned tomatoes and comparison of the nutritive value of brands of store bread, when those were … Continue reading
David Kirby: My Unhealthy Relationship with Life as We Know It
I’m fit to be tied, life. I’ve had it up to here. If you consisted of nothing but clichés, catchphrases, adages, old saws, mottos, slogans, and apothegms, we wouldn’t have … Continue reading
Barbara Hamby: Ode on Words for Parties (American Edition)
Why do we have so many words for parties, a slew
of them once you start looking: shindig, bash,
meet-and-greets, raves, blowouts, barbecues,
and more tepid functions, receptions, luncheons
Jose Padua: Blonde on Blonde
telling each other our secrets,
breathing in the sea salt air
and breathing it out again,
dedicating our lives to each other
Barbara Hamby: Ode to Anglo Saxon, Film Noir, and the Hundred Thousand Anxieties That Plague Me Like Demons in a Medieval Christian Allegory
Yo, Viking dudes, who knew your big-dog cock-of-the-walk
raping and pillaging would put us all here, right smack
dab in the middle of a decade filled with the stink
of war.
Traditional Poems from Pre-Modern South India
It was the very first night,
and the young girl showed surprising skill
in the arts of love
Mike Vargo: The Holiday Rant
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve celebrate the three great indulgences of our culture: overeating, overspending, and getting overly intoxicated. The unifying theme is excess.
Rachel Hadas: 460 Riverside Drive
What ghostly messenger
was rattling away unseen
on the other side of the door?
Barbara Hamby: Mambo Cadillac
I’m talking to you, Mr. Magoo. Sit up, check
out that blonde with the leopard print tattoo. O she’ll lick
the sugar right off your doughnut and bill you, too, speak
French while she do the do.
