By Benjamin Karren School’s eulogy crackles in trillium-laced mountain air—twenty fence posts down a dirt road, a cremationfor chemistry finals and college rejection letters,a black Camaro thrumming Stairway to Heavengasoline-drenched cliques ignited by graduation. My burned CDs and letterman jacket obsolete—we won’t be remembered after tomorrow.My scorched pep rally speech, charred saxophone solo,engulfed chess positions … Continue reading East of Midnight
Three Little Things
By Anna Seidman In my traditionThe world is sustained by three thingsTruth, justice and peaceBut if “truth” includes the infinite experiences, thoughts and realitiesOf every living thing“Justice” means eight billion conceptsOf right and wrongAnd “peace” is something we all believe in,Until it gets in the way of everything else we believe in,Then it doesn’t fit … Continue reading Three Little Things
Bayreuth
By Jack D. Harvey Bayreuth was published in pif, which ceased publication a couple of years ago. Bird Wagner'svast moaty throatsings bastions of eaglesup through thesmoky aether.Either he's mador me:one.Before the honest soundBrünhildcrashes intoheroic bric-a-brac;pukka Mercurycrowds abovethe storm of notes,landscapes of cymbalsand violins;the escarpments of Mosessmoke like chimneys,dwarfing the vast vaultfilled with themusic's life.Across the … Continue reading Bayreuth
A Parable as Sung to a Quasi-Existent God
By Earl Smith I sit on my twig – listening - watching. Below they sit beside the running stream, these two greatest of all men - musing, watching a wave waiting ever patiently for the rock that has blocked its way to finish its sedentary undertaking. “That wave, it moves yet not at all, how … Continue reading A Parable as Sung to a Quasi-Existent God
Evening Market
By J.S. O’Keefe dread pulsates through the evening market under dying neon lights strange men armor shimmering prowl throughtheir eyes are hidden behind mirrored visorstheir movements seem smooth almost clinical I want to study their facesare they chiseled cold sullen do they have their own hopes secrets sorrows suddenly I can see one of them … Continue reading Evening Market
Once Upon a Rhyme
By Tim Law Once upon a rhymeA robin built a nestIt flew around the worldUntil it realized home is bestOnce upon a rhymeA rocket launched at noonIt swam through a sea of starsBefore landing on the moonOnce upon a rhymeI met a happy clownHe made up a songI sang alongMy frown turned upside downOnce upon … Continue reading Once Upon a Rhyme
Eerie Echoes
By Brenda Mox Into the flare of twilightwhere color is a field of possibilities,she disappears into the circle of breathing clouds to find refugein another realm where magic happens.Beyond a circle of the familiar,her path meanders according to whim.Each direction a world of uncertain futuresunwound through time and space.High on possibilities rife with paradox, her … Continue reading Eerie Echoes
A Voice Found in Silence
By Rabhya Patil “Open your mouth and allow the words to walk through the red carpet of your tongue, nothing to block.”I can’t. If I express through bunches of letters that must be neat, they will twist into threaded knots that cannot be undone by my thoughts, so bittersweet. I’m afraid the ghost eyes will … Continue reading A Voice Found in Silence
Black Lightning
By Bob McAfee You are the embodiment of a good thing coming in a small package, barely five feet tall and, let’s admit it, feisty as a sharecropper’s daughter ought to be.You carry a chip on your shoulder and the knowledge of space-time travel in your mind, three degrees in six years from MIT, a … Continue reading Black Lightning
Babe Without You Life Is So Blue
By H.L. Dowless Tears are rolling down my face,I simply don’t know what to do,My mind grasps not time nor space,Since I have no choice but to live without you.I well remember our walks through the park,I savor our picnics neath the weeping willow trees,I only want another pleasant stroll in the dark,Your beautiful face … Continue reading Babe Without You Life Is So Blue
Academy of the Heart And Mind 