Featured Poems
Foxtrot
Gary Witt
In five days Raul will die from falling
On a knife blade held in the fist of
An acquaintance.
His good friend Paulo will hold him
In his arms and cradle his
Shaved head,
While Raul's eyes express surprise
At the possibility—no, it is
The impending reality—yes, that life
Is quickly leaving his body.
And Raul's mind must race
To keep up with his soul's
Unscheduled departure.
But that will be five days hence. Right now,
Raul and Paulo and the rest of their crew
Are slogging through the crowded mall,
Adjusting loose waistbands, step step;
Shifting Sox headgear, three four;
Dragging trains of Nike laces
Among the threads of frayed pant legs,
As passers-by shift and pivot around them
One, two, onetwothree.
GARY WITT practices law in Denver, Colorado. "Foxtrot" is part of a larger work, Exhibition Dancing.
Flyleaf
Michael Gessner
Nothing collapses so easily
in the fist than this,
the onion skin that crinkles
like the sound of the word, creation.
It is the twig that bows
in the wind & sweeps over the forearm,
or the peach that brushes
against the child's cheek,
& these are found in pages,
as if among a feathery crowd
of angels jostling in awe
toward the next wonder just ahead.
It is all the round syllables,
the talk of the world
trying to fill us with sense
again.
MICHAEL GESSNER's poetry has been featured in many periodicals and anthologies. His published books are Earthly Bodies (Pudding House Press), Surfaces (March Street Press), and L e t t e r s (BlazeVOX). Michael lives in Arizona.
Heirloom
Debra Pallone Parks
There is no mercy,
and no open window. Poor fly.
I rub your enameled wings,
watch a nova flare from the center
of your solitary rubinite eye.
The other, filled with whatever
my grandmother could find
when she saw the empty gilded socket
(because who can bear a world of broken, empty things?)
(who wants a single dim vision of the world?)
and though half your dazzle is gone,
she loved you enough to save you
with this ordinary river creek stone.
DEBRA PALLONE PARKS is a photographer/poet living in North Florida. She has been writing poetry for nearly thirty years. Some of her publication credits include Penumbra Poetry Contest 3rd place and Avatar Review. She is working on a collection of poems called At Odds with the Moon.
