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DOOR
by Timothy Pilgrim Squeezed hallway, slim slit, waiting's end, the pass before. Breach, unbreathe, scorn the fall, refuse the born. Ignore pleas, turn, crawl, leave behind the screaming door. |
CONVERGING PERSPECTIVE by Christian DeLaO |
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THE MATH
by Timothy Pilgrim Adds up, given the time spent figuring ways to stay alive. Join health club, subtract weight, do yoga, every new kind of exercise. Limit junk food, get sleep, plus shots for measles, tetanus, flu. Life kept like a lover on the sly — think no one knows, divide the family, deny she, too, someday will go. Left the remainder, alone to crunch numbers, buy time, escape avalanche, tornado, flood, crashed car or plane. Calculate ways to survive fire, not drown in stream, ocean, river, lake. Multiply odds to survive a quake — pitch tent out back, hoard water, meds, food, supplies. Believe we've solved winter sky, count black stars as they arrive. |
SILENT AS THE GRAVE by Brent Wiggans |
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A HOLE IN THE HUM
by Evan Myquest If there's ever Five minutes of silence In the conversation That's me joining in Doing my share Holy Christ I'm smart enough to know I can't compete with Intelligent silence People say silence is heavy Well how heavy can it be It only takes a word to Disturb it Shatter it to pieces How heavy can it be A pin drop is its undoing A vow of silence is Wasted if your sandaled footfalls Slap on the monastery floor Even the rude vesper quarter Bells of towered Big Ben are Programmed to interrupt The sublime on The quarter hour And you won't hear it from me Because my five minutes are up |
CHRISTMAS IN OMAN by Baxter Jackson |
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FLAGGING
by P.M.F. Johnson The budget shrank like a banker's soul so we boxed up our things from those icy cubicles and took the elevators down. The bus home rattled us past a few abandoned cars, the American flags on the side streets lit by Christmas lights. |
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