tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52239358773950072522024-03-13T16:40:46.337-05:00Wizards Of The Wind And Other Strange PlacesMichael Lee Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07544654280381592964noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223935877395007252.post-10106726881678127112015-06-10T16:04:00.001-05:002015-06-10T16:04:47.056-05:00Jesus in a Nighttime City (V3) poem, Michael Lee Johnson, Itasca, IL.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ly94ojkkgbE" width="480"></iframe><br />Michael Lee Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07544654280381592964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223935877395007252.post-41189627590176181172008-02-29T09:38:00.007-06:002016-09-20T11:01:51.384-05:00Introduction, Submissions, Requirements<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzMiA4Pu0nm8ewt3v4b7Kgi85OqMRkTYv-IWBiB-fi8-riGKZcONsG5zODjAeSzlZ5GII2bKTk_bmwhWBL2fbAaO4O4Iczte5K-8GIACrhGSz6nyP0cf1PZwHyBdeqSubhiRtXTrvlxpo/s1600-h/WizardPlaces.jpg"><strong><img alt="" border="0" height="200" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177251188714955986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzMiA4Pu0nm8ewt3v4b7Kgi85OqMRkTYv-IWBiB-fi8-riGKZcONsG5zODjAeSzlZ5GII2bKTk_bmwhWBL2fbAaO4O4Iczte5K-8GIACrhGSz6nyP0cf1PZwHyBdeqSubhiRtXTrvlxpo/s200/WizardPlaces.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" width="171" /></strong></a><strong>Wizards Of The Wind is a poetry site ran, operated and edited, by poet Michael Lee Johnson, Itasca, IL. Michael Lee Johnson is publisher </strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><strong>and editor of 11 poetry flash fiction sites–all presently open for submission, he is published in 27 different countries, and over 895 different publications, 101 videos on YouTube (just type Michael Lee Johnson into Google Search). </strong><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial narrow" , "sans-serif";">Michael Lee
Johnson, Itasca, IL. nominated for 2 Pushcart Prize awards for poetry 2015 and Best of the Net poetry 2016.</span></b><br />
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</span></span><strong><br /></strong> Wizards Of The Wind is a poetry journal or journey devoted to creativity. Wizards in the wind can be found in silent nights alone, moments of joy and spring, in mysteries of life, in dreams created in nightmares or looking out your balcony window. Wizards are not demons or devils at this site, rather gems of mind creation wherever they happen to be silently found or formed. Creativity is elusive, not even easy for a poet or artist to find; often it pops out of experiences from seemingly nowhere; other times it is triggered by a word (s), or image (s) or experience. Here you are encouraged to share all these notions and leave them in a strange place, Wizard Of The Wind.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><strong><em><u>WHERE TO SEND SUBMISSIONS, GUIDELINES, COPYRIGHT CONSIDERATIONS:</u></em></strong></span><br />
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<strong>Send all submissions to </strong><a href="mailto:promomanusa@gmail.com"><strong>promomanusa@gmail.com</strong></a></div>
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I'm looking for: short poetry including haiku and tanka, flash fiction, short non-fiction with a social or political message (ie inadequate health coverage for 54 million Americans), good short stories. Include a brief 3rd party bio of yourself--50 words or less, especially any previous publication credits and contact info. We only accept e-mail or electronic submissions. Don't send attachments less they are asked for. No snail mail-it will be ignored unless they are comments and queries. Send no more than 4 poems at one time. The word "Submission" must be in the subject line. Editor retains the right to make a few comments about each selected poem, if you are selected, you chances of it being positive are good. As a general rule we require "one time rights" (meaning we plan to publish and use a poem "one time"). We also allow all rights to revert back to the writer upon publication on our site, which means the writer can have his work back and do with it as he wishes. If you need to remove a work for any reason, email us. Simultaneous submissions are ok, if you tell us, and give credit to the publisher (s); we are more interested in quality of work then if being original per sa.<br />
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I would like to invite graphics, nature pictures, sketches original artwork to decorate the site with, send to the same email address as above. Art: no larger than 5" x 5" or so, keep it small, black and white, or color, in jpeg/jpg or gif format, signed and dated, attached or embedded within the email. In the beginning, we will select works and post them as quality provides them-and notify the authors when they are accepted. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial narrow" , "sans-serif";">Michael Lee
Johnson, Itasca, IL. nominated for 2 Pushcart Prize awards for poetry 2015. </span></b><strong>Visit all 11 of my websites rich with poems from talented authors at (all open for submission now):</strong> <br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;">Poetry Websites Edited by Poet Michael Lee Johnson</span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://dreamsagoniescontemporarypoets.blogspot.com/">http://dreamsagoniescontemporarypoets.blogspot.com/</a></span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://promomanusa.wix.com/contemporary-poets2">http://promomanusa.wix.com/contemporary-poets2</a></span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/807679459328998/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/807679459328998/</span></a></span></em></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"><a href="http://promomanusa.wix.com/michael-lee-Johnson"><strong><em>http://promomanusa.wix.com/michael-lee-Johnson</em></strong></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://itascaillinoispoetryman.moonfruit.com/"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>http://itascaillinoispoetryman.moonfruit.com/</strong></span></span></a><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><strong> </strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.birdsbywindow.blogspot.com/"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>http://www.birdsbywindow.blogspot.com/</strong></span></span></a><span style="color: blue;"><strong> </strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.poetriclegacy.mysite.com/"><i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>http://www.poetriclegacy.mysite.com/</strong></span></span></i></a><span style="color: blue;"><strong> </strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://electricinthesun.blogspot.com/"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>http://electricinthesun.blogspot.com/</strong></span></span></a><span style="color: blue;"><strong> </strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://atendertouch.blogspot.com/"><i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>http://atendertouch.blogspot.com/</strong></span></span></i></a><span style="color: blue;"><strong> </strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://wizardsofthewind.blogspot.com/"><i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>http://wizardsofthewind.blogspot.com/</strong></span></span></i></a><span style="color: blue;"><strong> </strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><a href="http://poetsinterviews.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><strong>http://poetsinterviews.blogspot.com/</strong></span></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Author website: </span><a href="http://poetryman.mysite.com/"><i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">http://poetryman.mysite.com/</span></span></i></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Em: </span><a href="mailto:promomanusa@gmail.com"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">promomanusa@gmail.com</span></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Em: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="mailto:writerillinois@yahoo.com"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">writerillinois@yahoo.com</span></span></a></span><br />
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PO Box 486, Itasca, IL 60143</div>
Michael Lee Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07544654280381592964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223935877395007252.post-32996906292902436892008-02-29T09:07:00.093-06:002014-03-05T23:43:31.694-06:00The Majesty, Magnification Of Poetry In Our World<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaMj0NL4WhRvBQSIVAc9OdDo0dhwiYTNqUTzvoaF1a1GeeFf85SwPQ5gmTYL8WcjwhRS0bpDkIQFvzHAMN9DZNar6WO1RwimaqaoXYluL8WV5Xe9EKfn8goScJGGxO4SIvAaySQJyAXV-/s1600-h/ManicIsTheNight.jpg"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaMj0NL4WhRvBQSIVAc9OdDo0dhwiYTNqUTzvoaF1a1GeeFf85SwPQ5gmTYL8WcjwhRS0bpDkIQFvzHAMN9DZNar6WO1RwimaqaoXYluL8WV5Xe9EKfn8goScJGGxO4SIvAaySQJyAXV-/s320/ManicIsTheNight.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178418200048756178" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong>Manic is the Dark Night</strong></em></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Michael Lee Johnson </span></strong></em></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Deep into the forest <br />
the trees have turned <br />
black, and the sun <br />
has disappeared in <br />
the distance beneath <br />
the earth line, leaving <br />
the sky a palette of grays <br />
sheltering the pine trees <br />
with pitch-tar shadows. <br />
It is here in this black <br />
and sky gray the mind <br />
turns psycho <br />
tosses norms and pathos <br />
into a ground cellar of hell, <br />
tosses words out through the teeth. <br />
“Don’t smile or act funny, <br />
try to be cute with me; <br />
how can I help you today <br />
out of your depression?” <br />
I feel jubilant, I feel over the moon <br />
with euphoric gaiety. <br />
Damn I just feel happy! <br />
Back into the wood of somberness <br />
back into the twigs, <br />
sedated the psychiatrist <br />
scribbles, notes, nonsense on a pad of yellow paper: <br />
“mania, oh yes, mania, I prescribe <br />
lithium, do I need to call the police?” <br />
No sir, back into the dark woods I go. <br />
Controlled, to get my meds. I <br />
twist and rearrange my smile, <br />
crooked, to fit the immediate need. <br />
Deep in my forest <br />
the trees have turned black again, <br />
to satisfy the conveyer-- <br />
the Lord of the dark wood. <br />
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-2007-</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio: Michael Lee Johnson is an internationally published poet. All of us have experienced "manic is the dark night" in our own way, at a point or multi-points in our lives.
All of Michael Lee Johnson's poetry books are now available on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com. Type in Michael Lee Johnson or book titles or simply go to this link: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=michael+lee+johnson"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=michael+lee+johnson</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Joan McNerney</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My eyes are exhausted from the WHITE. <br />When walls start to converse, there <br />will be trouble. Most of the avatars<br />from my favorite games are nice, I <br />have been talking to them at times. <br /><br />On the bright side, I am no longer<br />hungry. Eating is another chore. <br />The mailbox is stupid and my car<br />battery is more important than me.<br /><br />People in town are very nice. Owe<br />$6 on my hair cut. Everybody is sick of it.<br />We all believe spring is a possibility.<br />Having lost so many gloves, I might<br />have to wear socks on my hands. <br /><br />Thank you for your understanding.<br />Human contact would be nice but<br />my phone is often off the hook<br />because of all those hang ups.<br />Wishing you a pleasant life.<br /><br />Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary magazines such as Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline, Spectrum, three Bright Spring Press Anthologies and several Kind of A Hurricane Publications. She has been nominated three times for Best of the Net. Poet and Geek recognized her work as their best poem of 2013. Four of her books have been published by fine small literary presses and she has three e-book titles. </span><br />
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</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">shadow pounded<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">against the drum skin<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">of hopelessness and<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I heard the murmur<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">of wind. It curled<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">past me as if God's<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">energy had come in,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and in my tiny room<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">it touched my pale<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">skin. Wings lifted<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">me and brightness<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">spilled in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Bio</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bobbi Sinha-Morey is a reviewer for the
online magazine Specusphere </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and a poet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her poetry can be seen in places such as Orbis, Gloom Cupboard, Pirene's
Fountain, </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bellowing Ark, and The Penwood Review, among
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her latest book of poetry,
Crystal Wind, </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">is available at www.writewordsinc.com and her
website is located at <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://bobbisinhamorey.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://bobbisinhamorey.wordpress.com</span></a></span></u>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Editorial Comments</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like the simplicity of Bobbi
Sinha-Morey’s poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reminds me
years ago how </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">love, romance, loneliness, captured my
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As years passed my subject matter
became more diverse-but love and key themes will never be forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Sitka Spruce</strong></span></div>
<br />
By Eric G. Müller<br />
<br />
Once my hand<br />
<br />
lay flat against<br />
<br />
the giant Sitka Spruce<br />
<br />
I felt its age and might<br />
<br />
ring through from<br />
<br />
the distant center.<br />
<br />
Its firm bark,<br />
<br />
furry with moss,<br />
<br />
flung messages<br />
<br />
from its crown-top antenna –<br />
<br />
signals I could not decode,<br />
<br />
but kept on listening for.<br />
<br />
No touch of any hide or pelt<br />
<br />
from the wildest bear or bison bull<br />
<br />
could make me tingle more.<br />
<br />
But as I continued,<br />
<br />
holding hand to massive trunk,<br />
<br />
I sensed the muscles of this<br />
<br />
wooden mastodon<br />
<br />
begin to stir –<br />
<br />
shaking my tiny hand….<br />
<br />
And now, much later,<br />
<br />
I still feel the warmth<br />
<br />
of his latent squeeze.<br />
<br />
– Cape Perpetua, Oregon Coast<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Muddy Water Dance</em></strong><br />
<br />
By Eric G. Müller<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
On the bus from Chinque Terra,<br />
<br />
on the western coast of Italy<br />
<br />
we pass a river that’s drying<br />
<br />
with thousands of fish<br />
<br />
stranded in the shallows, dying;<br />
<br />
making the muddied waters dance,<br />
<br />
as they frantically jump and shiver<br />
<br />
under the hot Ligurian sun,<br />
<br />
with fat, languid gulls<br />
<br />
squatted all along this<br />
<br />
frenzied bed of impending death,<br />
<br />
picking them out one by one.<br />
<br />
We drive on to Florence,<br />
<br />
leaving this rush of life behind,<br />
<br />
and I picture how this trembling tongue,<br />
<br />
spluttering with spirit,<br />
<br />
will soon be silent and bare.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Bio</em></strong>: Eric G. Müller is a musician, teacher and writer. He has written two novels, Rites of Rock (Adonis Press 2005) and Meet Me at the Met (Plain View Press, 2010), as well as a collection of poetry, Coffee on the Piano for You (Adonis Press, 2008). Articles, short stories and poems have been published in various journals and magazines. www.ericgmuller.com<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Editorial Comment</em></strong>: I love both of these poems: wonderful, keen, insightful use of mind, language, and imagery-wonderful work that just keep me digging for meaning. <br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red Arrow </span></em></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">By Roger G. Singer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A cold wind knows my name.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Wool coats and high collars tighten</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the center of me, blocking a gray</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">falling sky.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Strong footsteps speak with hurried</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">cause. Full faces cover against bitter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">air; the old know of loneliness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A car pushes into puddles splashing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Rough water edges appear as</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">homeless tears. The driver, hat on,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">cigarette smoking sits behind</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">windows fogged thick; his hand</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">wipes the glass before him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A neon blinking red arrow points</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">toward warmth; a piano plays</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the drinks into songs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Bio: Roger G. Singer, began writing poetry in the military years ago, for relaxation and to express his thoughts in abstract form. He finds writing poetry more of a challenge than writing more formal articles he writes for his profession.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Editorial comments: I always know when I read a poem I like. Maybe it is a reflection of someone who writes similar to myself. Here again I find a story rich in imagery that jumps a little here to there but holds together and leaves you wondering at the end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<strong><em><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Community Organizer’s Wife, A Note </span></strong></em></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Ben Nardolilli </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you choose </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to come home </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and wonder why </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the pine fresh lemon smell, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had to cover up the milk </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that went bad </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the jug that leaked </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">all over the rotten </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">legumes and seeds, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it is a lovely thing </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to see the back </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the icebox, and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my reflection again </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on the shiny floor, though </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if I slipped on it, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">who would know? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Bio</strong>: Ben Nardolilli is a twenty four year old writer </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">living in Arlington, Virginia. His work has appeared in many publications including: Houston Literary Review, Perigee Magazine, Canopic Jar, Lachryma: Modern Songs of Lament, Baker’s Dozen, Thieves Jargon, Farmhouse Magazine, Elimae, Poems Niederngasse, Gold Dust, The Delmarva Review,Underground Voices Magazine, SoMa Literary Review, Heroin Love Songs,Shakespeare’s Monkey Revue, Cantaraville, and Perspectives Magazine. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Editorial Comments</strong>: I love short incidents in life, chucked full of imagery, leaving me with reflections. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>DRINK</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Mike Berger</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I talked to him almost every day </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as he goes about his routine. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He tells me that 42 empty beer </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cans will buy a bottle of wine. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For his age, he is adroit at climbing </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">into a dumpster, plastic bag in hand. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His only possession, a battered grocery </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cart. He lives under the bridge on 7th St. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He claims he graduated from the local </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">University with a degree in chemistry. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He started drinking when his new bride </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ran off with another man. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I give him a couple of bucks on special </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">occasions. He's effusive with his thanks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The drink demons own him. He can't </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">break the cycle. As I am heading home </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I see him passed out in an alley. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Bio: Mike Berger is 72 years old. He has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and was a practicing psychotherapist for 30 years. He is now retired. He has authored two books of short stories along with numerous professional journals. His humor pieces Clyde and Goliath, Good Grief Columbus, and If Noah Built the Ark Today have won awards. H is now writing poetry full-time. Mike has many pursuits which include sculpting, painting, gardening, and baking bread. His forcaccia is to die for.</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Editorial comment: Mike allows his psychology background to pepper into his writings. Here we have a simple yet very human story of a sad tragedy that weaves within our society in the form of addictions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 130%;">Loving Rain</span></em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Steve Klepetar</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alone with this tired body, chest </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and arms aching, and all this rain. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rusty leaves cling still to red oak. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good to be alive in April, witnessing </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">another ugly Minnesota spring. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Drizzle smells of screens and river </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mud, puddles drift down my </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">deserted street, small tributaries </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to some mysterious sea. Like a </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">poor sailor caught in an old song </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will go to sea again, take ship </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on those winding waterways. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hard deck splintering beneath </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my feet, hands burning, stung </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with rope. Oh, the dreadful wind </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and rain! No squirrels, no diving </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">birds, even savage woodpeckers </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">who stripped bark from two </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dead trees ten feet above the leafy </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">grass, shelter today, somewhere </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in this sodden fog. How easily </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">everything disappears. Softball </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fields empty as the broken hands </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of slaves, infields soaked to rich </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mahogany, backstops cold, misted </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over with beaded drops of metallic rain. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Bio: Steve Klepetar’s work has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Professor of English and Faculty Director of Advising <br />
Saint Cloud State University Saint Cloud, MN</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Editorial Comment: When I get nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net to evaluate Steve Klepetar’s work. Loving Rain reminds me of when I used to live on Lake Street near St. Paul, MN so I relate to this winter notion well. I also lived in Edmonton, Alberta as a war resister for 10 years and ate cold till I could not swallow.</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><strong><em>Inside Glass Houses</em></strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By George Moore</span> </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…in the wilderness </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">surrounded by a conference </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of trees. All living things </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">decide for themselves, then </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the simplest express </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">their certainties. Like </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the loons and their long </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">range calls. No you </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">out here. You who </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">wait for the action in order </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to begin. You who have </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">caused little to evolve. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just wild, open lands. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The natural arrangement </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of mind and matter. What </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lives here has its way. It </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">insists. There’s no one here </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to throw stones at. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Behaving </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Punish the world? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For what? We remain </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a stone’s throw from reality. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wake up some mornings </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">angry at the sky. Without </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reflection. Its omnipotence; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">our singularities. I think </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">there must be a way to deny </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blueness, eat the air, crack </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the shell of me. Or undo </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the trouble caused by </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">history. But nothing can </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">censure the natural forces. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I call all the worlds to aid. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You and that irreconcilable </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">faith of yours. No aliens </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">will arrive to save us, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we must fly ourselves. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Darkness Misunderstood</em></strong> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By George Moore</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darkness </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">comes on of its </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">own space, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">yet we are in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">truth spaceless </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">creatures, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">such as we are. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darkness actually </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">becomes us </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sometimes more </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">than light, that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ephemeral photon </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">decays, its </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">transitoriness </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more our essence. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darkness does not </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">last, was there </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">before lasting, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has its own time </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sense, its own </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">essence of sweet </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nothingness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We should court </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the darkness as </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we do the light, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mother of us, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">mouth of us, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">source of all we </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">emerge from to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">return to. It is </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in us, calling us </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">back. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Bio: George Moore is an incredible man. All of his writing credentials are to extensive to list here. He teaches at the Univ. of Colorado, Boulder. He has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, North American Review, Orion, Colorado Review, Nimrod, Meridian, Chelsea, Southern Poetry Review, Southwest Review, Chariton Review, to name a few. He was a finalist for the Richard Snyder Memorial Prize, from Ashland Poetry Press, in 2007, and earlier for The National Poetry Series, The Brittingham Poetry Award, and the Anhinga Poetry Prize. He has been nominated four years for a Pushcart Prize. </span><a href="mailto:George.Moore@colorado.edu"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">George.Moore@colorado.edu</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"> </span><a href="mailto:mooreg@colorado.edu"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">mooreg@colorado.edu</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Editorial Comment: George is a twister. He takes world views and philosophy, sprinkles some crystal like images in the mix and comes up with a creation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><strong><em>A Cool Night In Spring</em></strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Bobbi Sinha-Morey</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dragonfly with transparent </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">wings taps on my window </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at night so I look for my </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">flashlight and go outside </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hoping to catch a glimmer </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of it before it flies away </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">into the sky. It disappears </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">much too quickly and all </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that's left to see is a tip </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of moonlight the rest of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it hidden by dark cirrus </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">clouds. Stars quietly </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">appear but they are too </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">few to light the pavement </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by. I long to capture them </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and wait for the day to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eclipse the long shadows </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that dare block the sun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 130%;">The Edge Of Dawn</span></em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Bobbi Sinha-Morey</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the pale silver light </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the morning star </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I waken below the dark </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stand of pines and wait </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for the sun half hidden </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the obsidian sky </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the glow of my small </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">white candle guiding </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">me through the woods </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">till the edge of dawn </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">arrives touching the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">earth, gracing the trees </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">like a red golden dream- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">scape opening like leaves, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">casting its brightness </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">above me as I walk </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">quietly, the sun dimpling </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my skin. I gaze by the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stream at my home so </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">far away seeing a lamp </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shining within. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Bio: Bobbi Sinha-Morey is a book reviewer for the online magazine Specusphere and a poet. Her poetry's appeared in places like Ceremony, Falling Star Magazine, Poet's Espresso, and Smile, among others. Her latest books of poetry, The Quiet Scent Of Jasmine and Stillness In The Garden Of Light, are at ebooksonthe.net. Her e-mail address is </span><a href="mailto:Isedmorey1@aol.com"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Isedmorey1@aol.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">.</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Editorial Comment: I have published Bobbi’s works before. He has a way with story telling and images buried inside.</span> </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Judas, all too Judas</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Phillip Ellis</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I could live outside myself, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">without my head, without my flesh, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I doubt I'd meet another man </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more deserving of obscurity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No righteous anger could redeem my soul, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no measure of human mercy rained </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">could salve a conscience compromised </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by four decades of domination. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No amount of mercy could wash away </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my youthful follies still committed, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or drown the pain, panic and fear </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that litter my life, my head, my flesh. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I could live without myself, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">would despair still be an issue? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would I have the strength to talk, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or sell myself to silence? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>The Clouds, Flying through at Altitude</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Phillip Ellis</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The clouds upon my tongue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">are rings of light, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that melt to moisture </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the cool gaze </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of a bored duenna </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on a Mediterranean balcony </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">against the deeper blue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of sky </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">imprisoning scattered </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cumuli. How I fly here, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this night, with hovering </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stars and city lights beneath, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">thin patterns and patters </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of constellated light </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">unseen and unsighted, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the moon mirrored </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by rings of white light, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pallid moon bows </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bursting with the sting </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of brilliance against the blue </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so deep it seems </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">black again. How I hover, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the cloud streaming through </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the canopy, the ghosted </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">outlines of my aircraft, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the abstract dreams </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and opinions </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over the oceans and seas </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to another land </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of Mediterranean skies. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Bio: Phillip A. Ellis — Poet, Banora Point NSW Australia. Phillip A. Ellis is an external student of the University of New England, Australia. He is majoring in English, and also writes criticism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;">Editorial Comment: I consider Phillip a personal friend. I also know he works harder at his craft than anyone I know. The first poems appears to be one of introspection, but of history, or the personal life of the poet? The 2nd is purely the blood stream of Phillip Ellis.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Control </em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">By Sarah Sisson </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought I could get what I wanted </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by giving myself away. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All I got was less of me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I often thought that I would get control </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if I gave up my body. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just became less demure. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When people would stare at me </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I felt important. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They don't remember who I am or who I was. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I snuck around thinking I wouldn't get caught </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">doing bad things. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know I did them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I went out I wanted </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to be the prettiest woman in the room. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes I was. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But all the control </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought that I had </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was a fantasy, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">one that can still be so real. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio: Bio: Sarah Sisson is a professional singer in Texas. As a poet, Sarah has felt compelled to express every emotion in a simple way. A thirty seven year old woman who has lived her life in and out of jails, sanitariums and experienced pain with bi polar disorder. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editorial Comment: Often poets, including myself, start from rough beginning. All we need is hope and a new direction. Our experiences formulate our art, open our hearts on paper. Here we have a fine example </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Afraid to Come Back Down</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Maranda Russell </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel cold today. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lost somewhere inside myself </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">struggling but unable to find a way out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything is separate from me </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my husband </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my house </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my job </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">even my cat's smile </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">doesn't do it's usual trick. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm disconnected </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">floating somewhere in the atmosphere </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">afraid to touch down </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">afraid of splintering </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">into a million bits of glass. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I come back to earth </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll cut myself and everyone else </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">into scarlet ribbons. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's better if I just stay here </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">alone and disoriented </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but more or lessstill in one piece. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Waiting On Something to Happen</em></strong> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By: Maranda Russell </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every day I wake up </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eat my cheerios in the blue bowl </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">take my shower praying </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">there's enough hot water left </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and leave for work. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wait for something to happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At work I occasionally do something </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and spend the rest of the day </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">trying to look like I'm busy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I sneak moments here and there </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to read my latest self-help book </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or eat a handful of M&M's. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still waiting for something to happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the drive home </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I dream about how the day </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">could have gone. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where I could have been, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">what I could have done. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I try not to crash into anyone </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">while I daydream </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about something happening. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I wonder though </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if I'm missing it all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I'm ignoring all the great things </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that do happen, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">just because I'm too lost </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in my own ideas </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of what should be. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I fear someday </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will regret </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">living mostly in my head </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">while the world around me </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">happened. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio: Maranda Russell is a 3rd generation writer who has been published in a few literary magazines. By day she puts up with grouchy doctors and at night she puts up with 3 emotionally disturbed cats and a wonderful husband. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editorial Comment: Often poets start writing to find their way out of emotional hells, moods, and try to make sense of life. Maranda writes a lot like I used to, and still do, in a</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">n emotional, imagistic manner. It is simple, revealing, honest. The lady has a growing talent. My cat Nikki is not disturbed, but I am. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>The Balcony</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">By Steve Picotte</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An old man sits on his balcony and watches </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the comings and goings of other </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sand their intermingling. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cacophony of voices float to him </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and uplift his loneliness with their chaos; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he sees two lovers meet with laughter </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and he smiles to himself in remembrance of younger days. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a time, he is complacent; for a time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The intrusion of gaiety into his somber morning </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">speaks volumes of whispered images </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and a solitary teardrop slips down the bed </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of wrinkled softness to hang from his chin unnoticed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I stand quietly, watching his reverie with empathy </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and then slowly move to return his frail body </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to the crumpled death-bed of loneliness </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">where once he shared passionate lifetimes </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with the woman who was his wife. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a time, he was complacent; for a time. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A small sigh escapes his lips and he stares </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at the textured plaster ceiling where </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shadow and light play duels in little pockets. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He whispers to me as I turn to go- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I loved her so much, Alan, so much... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I miss her, each moment, every day." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tuck the blanket around his neck, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and wipe the liquid trace of sorrow </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">away with a gentle palm. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A young man sits on his balcony and watches </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the comings and goings of others </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and their intermingling. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cacophony of voices float to himand bring him </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to loneliness with their chaos; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he sees two lovers meet with laughter </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and he smiles to himself in acceptance of older days. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio: Steve Picotte currently resides and writes in Kansas while working in building maintenance and information technology. When he's not working or writing he spends time with his fiancée, who swears he loves computers more than he loves her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editorial Comment: I’m a sucker for poetry with a good story. Here you see the transgression and passing of an old man and his life; and the sense of renewal all over in the last paragraph. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Rhetorician Retires </em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By R. W. Haynes </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes you have to roll the dice. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With my fairly faithful hell of a dog </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beside me, sound asleep, legs in the air, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hardly the lion of Beatus Hieronymus, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nor am I all that blessed, by the way, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And though aquila non capit murem </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(The eagle will not mess with a mouse) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I seize the mouse and click as though </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mice themselves were the forelocks of opportunity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take that, forces of darkness, and that, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">O blank screen of death, and may this magnetism </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Galvanize the ages, patch broken hearts, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pay a few bills, cause unmet faces </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To remember my name, dismay my detractors </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Et cetera. Wake up, Samuel. Time for bed. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio: R. W. Haynes, a professor by trade, has begun in his declining years to submit some of the poetry and fiction he has written. So far, he has had modest success, occasionally impressing his wife. He is fond of rivers, and, since he moved to Laredo in 1992, has drawn most of his poetic provocation from the Rio Grande, with some digressions generated by the Nueces. He grew up near the Alapaha, a Georgia river which, upon crossing into Florida, wisely disappears underground, and he has rejoiced in potamic gurgles from Bulgaria to Nayarit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editorial Comments: After wading through this poem and requesting clarification of a few phrases from the author-and only being and ex-social worker 20 years ago, not an academic, I came to a slow realization I liked this poem because I think I like his dog. Other than that, great poem! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>LIFE AFTER POLITICS </em></strong></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8JCdtsw7Py2uhIhZzB5aJUgLrxoIvVtI_VOme3tch84heTW3Ttz6ahmGWVbVhTUavAk5VLzsjqDFQwttA0P3WJB6sRPSoeoQ8r2TOJLS18FXqNkz9-ZxwtjoQpSNt2K1UNcFeY3Dqlc8r/s1600-h/Publication3.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzLcqC74XQECXEB56It50Yg6nKR2dKPE2_T6vW1uJ9NMoO09eA6zTqiRSLf5o8iVTbW8CF6JBshbsvcWdG44bSJFaNSnJJnEgBnEynTAxtSgtJDOL5unrWFGdGO_NXFJ76meVILkK7-Fm/s1600-h/Publication3.jpg"></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By J. H. Johns </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hi! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m Eliot Spitzer </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m here to tell you about </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trojans- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(holds up a condom in foil) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you know, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">after a hard day </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of governing in Albany- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or even when I’m kicking back </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in my Park Avenue apartment- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">there comes a time </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">when I think about slipping into a </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trojan- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">yes, Trojans- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and even though I don’t use them- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">they are the safest thing </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">between yesterday and tomorrow- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hey, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">take it from me- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Client Number Nine- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">try Trojans- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">they won’t keep the Feds from getting you </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but, they’re the best insurance you can buy- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this side of Wall Street- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so, whether you’re just having fun </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or dropping a thousand dollars an hour- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">use Trojans. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bio: J.H. Johns lives and writes in New York City </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editorial Comments: How timely can we get, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And what is poetry but a sense of humor on occasion? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>For 35 Cents</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;">By Louie Crew</span> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The paper smelled already parched </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the cheap drugstore version </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of Giovanni's Room </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which I sneaked home, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tucked between a McCall's and a Collier's, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to read for the first time </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about real people </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">who had never been locked up, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">excommunicated, or psychoanalyzed </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">even though they shared my kind of plumbing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For seven years various guests located it </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on a shelf of related titles, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and we knew. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 78%;">Bio: Louie has edited special issues of College English and Margins. He has written four poetry volumes Sunspots (Lotus Press, Detroit, 1976) Midnight Lessons (Samisdat, 1987), Lutibelle's Pew (Dragon Disks, 1990), and Queers! for Christ's Sake! (Dragon Disks, 2003). He is also the dedicated "list manger" of the best source of poetry pubishers on the net: </span><a href="http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 78%;">http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 78%;"> <br />
As of today, editors have published 1,861 of his works. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 78%;">Editorial Comments: Louie is one of my favorite people. He is a devoted person to poetry. Sometimes, with humor, and reality, we must read between the lines we are offered to find the real person we truly are: the above poem makes us think in those terms. Thank you Louie!</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 78%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Trolls Beneath the Bridge</em></strong> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 78%;">By Cathy McLain.</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Cathy is an amateur photographer who lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and black lab Bailey. Over the years her love of photography has grown into a passion. Texas is known for everything big, but Cathy prefers to document and share the out of the way places her state has to offer.</span> </span><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Candlelight</span> </span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil92VqBr9bDRlVOC0wkDKX9d-Kf01vGAU27pozMA_6DMeYBwdN3hwUo689gHACnbHBj_i1AjcPDgEB0bwvKhrGcaiFJc3v4jyVERjKcJRV7kNAOBDrjIk6DLnx2zpCtdXyMUzZ7vfIJr5G/s1600-h/bridge.jpg"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil92VqBr9bDRlVOC0wkDKX9d-Kf01vGAU27pozMA_6DMeYBwdN3hwUo689gHACnbHBj_i1AjcPDgEB0bwvKhrGcaiFJc3v4jyVERjKcJRV7kNAOBDrjIk6DLnx2zpCtdXyMUzZ7vfIJr5G/s200/bridge.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177265443711411554" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVkAEb251Uv6FDkhgOk1iXcY6qTFvTQ72JP8j9P04B98JMEv8t-eBhECetmqe6DLvhyphenhyphenG7Nl1LVj1lqsrYF02Ujc0_-x2kavTs0YvAA6XadQKwiK-RQHzBKqO7l-iGIOseBO0vmHWz-yxTs/s1600-h/bridge.jpg"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></em></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 78%;">By Carol Hollands</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lone flame enhances a scene </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the softest glow of light </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ensues comfort and reassures </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the hours of darkened night </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mesmerizing, hypnotizing, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with fascinating lure </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A dance achieved precariously </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so delicate, so pure </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Painting walls with living vines </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">while silhouetted views, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">conjure up imaginings </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in shaded tints, and hues </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forms under a shrouded veil </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">set a moody romance, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and renders sightless gloominess </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">into a vibrant trance </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The eye is blue in golden light </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so heavenly divine </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The candle, and the eye become </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Entwined and genuine </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-2007- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 78%;">Bio: Carol Hollands is from Ontario, Canada, <br />
Married, a mother of two wonderful teenagers! <br />
“I only write in rhyme, and I’m just now starting <br />
To get poems ‘out there’.”</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 78%;">Editorial Comment: Carol inadvertently sent a non-rhyme <br />
publisher a rhymed poem; but I don’t think Carol’s poem is trite. <br />
Because I believe in her, I want her to see her poems do, in fact, <br />
Have merit. Congrats!, Carol on a job well done.</span>Michael Lee Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07544654280381592964noreply@blogger.com0