19.
"Eating donuts in an alternate
universe"
~MISH~
*
18.
Old Journals
Written for snow, slippery
sidewalks, storefront
windows
(the geometric sun in
fog)–
memories were what
they
were for. Manuals deep
in hidden drawers.
To say they were for
perspective–
no, the fear, frozen
ground
thawing. What needs
forgotten.
17.
Elegy
We
want to leap over sadness like acrobats,
but
our hearts won’t let us.
Death
is measured by how close
or
how far we are to that person.
Witnessing
that death brings us closer
to
seeing our own death.
We
can’t avoid grief,
any
more than a fruit-bearing tree
can
stop producing fruit until it dies.
Each
sadness erupts differently.
~Martin Willitts Jr~
*
16.
Elegy
I
hunker down for a resurrection
from
the constant bombardment of memory
in
the wilderness of loss, without a compass,
following
the same trail, until it occurs to me —
I’ve
done this before, it’s not a dream.
~Martin Willitts Jr~
*
15.
"Alternate
universe-the Red Planet"
*
14.
Regretful Wretch
Hold
on Dark Lord - when I brimmed
with
your eggs
waited
open
legged and wild-eyed
I
moved soooo fast then
now
I’m slowed to a dumb
bleary-eyed
shuffle-to-a-stupor
old
mess
why
didn’t you make me
your
vampiress
while
I oozed with potent venom and froth
you
lifted me up
shared
my blood with
your
dark angels only to
drop
me
as
I fell I realized I would break
(thanks…for
nothing)
into
a thousand pieces
(and
I did)
some
old hag
swept
me into a plastic bag
tried
to glue my parts
I
came back
all
fack-yacked
an
awful science project gone awry
I
begged
to
be put out of my misery
howled
for you……
your
icy cold fingers poke me
your
horsemen scream a laughter
that
shatters through my days
I
swear I didn’t swear
if
I did…………………….
my
fingers were crossed
~Donna Dallas~
*
13.
the carousal
into his mouth & assisting
aimlessly
in letting him gulp,
the snow inebriated
the land. swelled
with drunkenness,
he purged a mass river,
sweeping away the content.
~john compton~
(this poem currently appears
in the chapbook, "i saw god cooking children / paint their bones" by
john compton, published by Blood Pudding Press and available HERE - https://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress)
*
12.
fellation
there is no tender-hearted romance,
no tantalizing undressing.there is just the hard dick
i suck into my mouth
& maneuver my tongue
until he cums. i swallow.
i’m fond of the flavor.
we do not make do with lavish words,
or the eager caressing
that leads to kissing.
an idle thank you & goodbye.
the passion is in the leaving.
~john compton~
(this poem currently appears in the chapbook, "i saw god cooking children / paint their bones" by john compton, published by Blood Pudding Press and available HERE - https://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress)
*
11.
the memory of seeing my first uncut penis
i was sucking on my boyfriend’s cock
when i started thinking about my uncle’s penis,viewing each other’s when we were teens.
i hurried & finished.
he looked at me slantways. i told him a poem’s
in my head, he understands. i grab my pen
to write this memory:
i thought it was weird
but still a normal penis
once you pulled back the extra flesh.
i was stunned & curious
at how ours appeared different:
his skin stretchy & mine tight,
his shape bulbous & mine straight.
now that i am grown, i play with my boyfriend’s
like it’s my favorite toy i remember as a child.
~john compton~
(this poem currently appears in the chapbook,
"i saw god cooking children / paint their bones" by john compton,
published by Blood Pudding Press and available HERE - https://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress)
*
10.
killing civilians againbodies lie
sorries
are given
as gifts
people who have lost
are supposed to take apologies
with gratitude
& smile
& say thank you
& appreciate
what the murderers
have said
because its okay
it was all a mistake
a misunderstanding
an accident
theyre paid to kill
though sometimes
faces blur together
children
look like
terrorists
~john compton~
(this poem currently
appears in the chapbook, "i saw god cooking children / paint their
bones" by john compton, published by Blood Pudding Press and available
HERE - https://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress)
*
9.
"King
of the Insect People and His Senior Wives"
~MISH and Ariana Stockwell~
*
8.
“the poisoned mouse"
the
poisoned mouse
lies
rotting in the walls
hidden in the closet
demanding much more
than to taste of our
bounty
the poisoned mouse
loses skin and fur
decomposes
sightless sockets gaze
unblinking at her
executioner
the poisoned mouse
doesn't care about germs
dropping on counters
where we prepare our
food
all she wants is revenge
all she leaves behind
her rotting corpse
the stench of moldering
meat
we’ll never get clean
~Cat Russell~
*
7.
“Inside Out”
sightless eyes view the
light
behind this billowing
curtain
as eaters become the
eaten
digestive aids digest
hosts
instead hosting a feast
for those
who dine upon what
remains
breaking down this diet
for
worms for maggots and
flies
the grossest of the
grotesque
hatching to become
airborne
as the angels in their
heaven
or the ones down below
that have only forgotten
how to fly
~Cat Russell~
*
6.
Mayflies
the flood, of syllables, of mouths forming
holes
of all shapes and size and lies
and delay
a circle, a smile, a sky, an imperfection
“impossible," says the world
the one released by intoxicating
movement
but there’s no such thing as a savior
a vertebrae crushed, marked by the teeth
of a beast
(a sun setting in the east)
of burden
the result of even thinking about the welfare of the doomed among us
flies have holes in the back of their abdomens
dressed in black, solitary armory
they are what they do, right
what they do right is … fly
speak again with aging hands
gripping
choking
hanging out of the holes of a long sleeved sweater
your hair hangs too, around something evolved
something bought and soiled
you know, the garden of eggs hatched
eating fruit and vegetables
regardless of what your god desires
(this poem currently appears in the book, "The Invisible Waterhole" by Joe Kidd, available HERE -https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Kidd/e/B089QYDXSM)
*
5.
Alarm
after Servant
You can be trapped in an opulent house.
Sneak down a sculptural stair, away from
your spouse who’s too medicated to rouse,
past staff who should be asleep, overcome
by a secret you can no longer keep.
Pause in the dark before arched double doors.
Brisk fingers brush buttons, familiar beeps
of memorized digits you yourself stored
then invalid code, two attempts more.
Slow
index finger subsequent times. You must
be right. Retreat is a crime. Moment you
know
as the alarm blares, you can no longer trust
these footsteps on the stairs. You are not
free.
You built this house. One of them stole the
key.
4.
"Alternate
universes / brush against each other / kissing each other / for a nanosecond /
causing echoes / throughout the multiverse"
3.
Chameleon
(Ambystoma maculatum)
Under
the unspoken, hyacinth sky
incomplete
unfolding,
chameleons
find their way into being unseen,
short-lived
smoke,
a
color of stories, a vacuum filling,
a
talisman of fortunes always at risk.
Chameleon,
I know you/I don’t know you.
You
are either/or
and
variations between,
the
unmentionable weather, the motion
of
light slithering over a rock, a tongue
tasting
wind as it rants.
Your
life is a constant do-over.
Patterns
of stripes, bars, spots, blotches,
or
dots of Morse code,
a
continuous made-up story.
Chameleons,
I know nothing about you/
I
know everything worth knowing about you.
~Martin Willitts Jr~
*
2.
Pot of gold melted
this isn’t a story
it’s a prophecy
we called it back then
after Atlantis perished
during the dark ages
when Rome fell
when the Tsar was born
when Hiroshima melted
we were gonna fuck it up
someone predicted it
Nostradamus
or was it the Bible?
they didn’t say we would
burn
through the ozone
or machete the fins
off all the great whites
to help keep erections
blossoming
or stab babies sucked
out of the womb
this wasn’t written in
the stars
but burn the mother fucker down to
the ground
could have been scrolled
in Latin
or some type of
hieroglyphics
painted in blood on a
cave wall
as all great colonies
fail
at some point or another
because of
natural disasters or
us
we spray the
rainbow down
with diesel
light it up into
oblivion
the fallout will
penetrate
some clean and virgin
planet
ruin that one too
~Donna Dallas~
*
1.
Perihelion
I was born from ice and slept in a cradle of clouds, swaddled
in time and silence at the edge of the solar system. Then galactic tides
shifted, tipping my cradle and suddenly I was sailing on a parabolic trajectory
toward its center.
My self-destructive path remained unobserved until I passed a
small blue sphere. Countless eyes analyzed my face and long, streaming hair,
bright and aglow, from behind glass lenses.
The eyes continued to watch as I dissolved into the sun, and
the only traces of when I lived reduced to eternally drifting ash.
~Heather Santo~