13.
The Myna Girl & Her Bats
The
Myna Girl
has
followers
who
are
bats.
They
follow her
to school
like
service
dogs
or
an—educated--
rain
~Eileen Murphy~
*
12.
broken heart 1
~MISH~
*
11.
The Acolyte
He asks what she wants, in bed,
what more that they’ve missed.
Even drunk, she is a boastful follower,
possessed by the god she’s with.
But before this one, others.
The anarchist. The tax accountant.
The kickboxer who liked
stoned sex and no clothes.
The year she lived in a van
with Dostoyevsky. Desire
like a mirror. Even now, she
is love’s possession.
~Jonie McIntire~
*
10.
Infancy of Touch
~Sandra Feen~
*
9.
9.
my life as a lesser god in the age of fading hope
and who was it that told
you to
curl up and die? or maybe there were
too many of them to
keep track of
who was it that spent
all of
their free time
calling you faggot?
calling you asshole?
calling you cocksucker?
look
we both always knew
the world was flat
we understood no one
would care
whether you jumped or
i was pushed
just one more
blue-eyed boy bleeding
quietly in the high
school parking lot
while the rest of us
walked away
and when was it i
finally
decided to be human?
who was it that told
me i
still had a long way
to go?
laughed when she said
it then
got dressed and
went home to someone
else
~John Sweet~
*
8.
Pennywise
I played with him
when I was a little boy.
He made me laugh.
Most people thought
I had an imaginary friend,
but my sister-my sister
believed and she feared.
When she disappeared,
I pointed at the hole
in the ice and said,
she just fell right through.
But, I knew differently,
and so did Pennywise.
~Daniel G. Snethen~
*
*
7.
Circus Crime
Three dead little girls
covered in elephant hay.
Straw in their hair.
Sticky cotton-candy
smeared on their faces.
Red nosed clown stickers
adhered to their foreheads.
~Daniel G. Snethen~
*
*
6.
I Wear My Heart On My
Chin
~Sandra Feen~
*
5.
orphans
the room was cold with their breath.
they deployed their scoped eyes
to capture you in their hostage stare.
their dark maneuvered like a room full of water,
sloshing. rising & falling.
their grief stampedes through your heart
& displaces your perception.
imagine: you’re a cow to the slaughter.
imagine: you’re the blood that stains the concrete.
their faces appear as shadows in windows;
tongues lick the glass.
they want to possess you.
they want to be you.
~John Compton~
~John Compton~
*
4.
orchid gang #2
~MISH~
*
3.
they came away with the skin
they came away with the skin
today i thought of the sweet
beautiful underside
of my belly, the bright red
& warm layer of meat,
the pearl fattiness glistening,
tepid blood like chocolate
dripping from the edges of the flap,
clotting, the brine smell.
as i stick my finger into the bowl
of my abdomen, the ripple
in my stomach at my cold finger,
the thud of my heart at its ignorance,
studying my breath trying
to over-calculate, overcome the pain,
& if i turn slightly sideways
most of me will pour out.
~John Compton~
*
2.
the
mouse
i heard piercing cries
running across hot oven metal.
opening the door, just in time,
to witness it snag in a red coil
hair and skin instantaneously smoldering,
twitching slightly
pain overcame the tiny body.
i tried,
as i watch life and death struggle,
to rescue it
all i was able to do
was remove the charred remains
that black line from face
to hip
marred my mind.
in a last attempt
i poured cold water across its burns
just in case the remainder of conscious
still felt.
~John Compton~
*
1.
the season that preys
cold froze
the veins in my house &
it sits, skeleton
bare to the elements.
i lie inside it's battered skin
digested by the chill.
weather knocks on its eyes
waiting to come in, wanting
to feel the heat
from its heart pumping
murmurs
trying to keep up.
*
my feet burn
in the 14 degree air.
i exchange promises
to keep from hypothermia.
even in my blankets
i feel i am not safe
from the black discoloration
of dying flesh
~John Compton~
