magnum by splake

city limits fading
rearview mirror shadows
easy quiet miles
early morning darkness
memory drifting back
late night years ago
brain-skull cavity numb
cheap old milwaukee suds
holding .357
remembering scary stories
others saying
“violent recoil
smashed the gun in his face”
carefully squeezing trigger
fiery barrel explosion
red line of poetry
aimed toward heaven
maybe
killing god
wounding angel or two
scattering milky way
this morning
testing ancient gun
insuring no malfunction
like empty hammer click
moment of truth
when seriously needing
holy ticket to ride
trip to new reality
standing besides brautigan creek
trailhead start to cliffs
aiming at distant trees
avoiding
“no not now”
fatal ricochet mistake
smith-wesson exploding
earth shaking tremor
poor rock gravel
moving beneath my feet
suddenly head
feeling full of cotton
silently thinking
“eh eh eh
can’t hear anything”
in blurry first dawn
thinking
of other writers
alone and unloved
lost in mind-fuck depression
also knowing
when words vanish
nothing else remains
except final goodbye
existential poetic adieu
randall jarrell
walking into car
north carolina highway
weldon kees
leaping off
san francisco
golden gate bridge
lew welch
leaving gary snyder’s cabin
california mountains
with 30-30 rifle
body never found
brother brautigan rotting
bolinas west coast apartment
now trout fishing
absaroka mists
dreaming of ianthe
watermelon sugars
old papa hem
dazed vacant stare
sawtooth mountains too close
toes in shotgun triggers
young beloved adriana
patiently waiting
somewhere across the river
david foster wallace
putting rope around his neck
hanging himself
while faithful canine companions
“bella” and “warner”
watching
not understanding
truth finally setting him free
my .357 magic
warm and smoky
field tested
ready to go
passing single bullet agony
hot violent end
some time
not far away
when failure and decay
reach beyond my life
erasing new poem

magnum by splake

city limits fading
rearview mirror shadows
easy quiet miles
early morning darkness
memory drifting back
late night years ago
brain-skull cavity numb
cheap old milwaukee suds
holding .357
remembering scary stories
others saying
“violent recoil
smashed the gun in his face”
carefully squeezing trigger
fiery barrel explosion
red line of poetry
aimed toward heaven
maybe
killing god
wounding angel or two
scattering milky way
this morning
testing ancient gun
insuring no malfunction
like empty hammer click
moment of truth
when seriously needing
holy ticket to ride
trip to new reality
standing besides brautigan creek
trailhead start to cliffs
aiming at distant trees
avoiding
“no not now”
fatal ricochet mistake
smith-wesson exploding
earth shaking tremor
poor rock gravel
moving beneath my feet
suddenly head
feeling full of cotton
silently thinking
“eh eh eh
can’t hear anything”
in blurry first dawn
thinking
of other writers
alone and unloved
lost in mind-fuck depression
also knowing
when words vanish
nothing else remains
except final goodbye
existential poetic adieu
randall jarrell
walking into car
north carolina highway
weldon kees
leaping off
san francisco
golden gate bridge
lew welch
leaving gary snyder’s cabin
california mountains
with 30-30 rifle
body never found
brother brautigan rotting
bolinas west coast apartment
now trout fishing
absaroka mists
dreaming of ianthe
watermelon sugars
old papa hem
dazed vacant stare
sawtooth mountains too close
toes in shotgun triggers
young beloved adriana
patiently waiting
somewhere across the river
david foster wallace
putting rope around his neck
hanging himself
while faithful canine companions
“bella” and “warner”
watching
not understanding
truth finally setting him free
my .357 magic
warm and smoky
field tested
ready to go
passing single bullet agony
hot violent end
some time
not far away
when failure and decay
reach beyond my life
erasing new poem

Uncle Sam (MIA) by Bradley Mason Hamlin

It’s simple, Sam
I’m sorry, I blamed you
but it wasn’t your fault
never was
it’s you we’ve needed
all along
not the people
that hijacked you
long ago
you’ve been
missing in action
so many years
kept in a dungeon
with mind control aliens
and the holy grail
no doubt
gone so damn long
that the real Americans
have almost forgotten your face
but I’ll tell you this
the Enemy
cannot control all the people
all the time
if we believe we are slaves
slaves we will be
simple
and simple-minded
so, maybe it’s time
to raise
the counter clockwise voodoo
wipe the mystic mud from our eyes
turn to the mirror
take the first real look
at ourselves
and say
Uncle
I’m coming home to get you
you’ve been patiently bleeding
I know,
and I’m sorry
I’m so goddamned sorry
we left you behind
but somewhere
I know you’re still alive
sure
maybe you’ve been beaten
tortured
bullied and buggered
but hold on, Sammy baby
I feel the first honest war
taking a breath
as more minds shake off
the invisible drug
of the Old Bastards
we will form a new indivisible
psychic link
that cannot be controlled
or broken by bad men
eyes will open
the butcher
will hesitate over his meat
the secretary will stop typing
the ball player
will follow his motion
to a new thought
the artist
will paint something new
that speaks
to the original cause
they will cast away the chains
just like that
and take up the axe
and this new battle will be fought
to the last living breath
for truth, justice, freedom
and the undeniable American way.

Uncle Sam (MIA) by Bradley Mason Hamlin

It’s simple, Sam
I’m sorry, I blamed you
but it wasn’t your fault
never was
it’s you we’ve needed
all along
not the people
that hijacked you
long ago
you’ve been
missing in action
so many years
kept in a dungeon
with mind control aliens
and the holy grail
no doubt
gone so damn long
that the real Americans
have almost forgotten your face
but I’ll tell you this
the Enemy
cannot control all the people
all the time
if we believe we are slaves
slaves we will be
simple
and simple-minded
so, maybe it’s time
to raise
the counter clockwise voodoo
wipe the mystic mud from our eyes
turn to the mirror
take the first real look
at ourselves
and say
Uncle
I’m coming home to get you
you’ve been patiently bleeding
I know,
and I’m sorry
I’m so goddamned sorry
we left you behind
but somewhere
I know you’re still alive
sure
maybe you’ve been beaten
tortured
bullied and buggered
but hold on, Sammy baby
I feel the first honest war
taking a breath
as more minds shake off
the invisible drug
of the Old Bastards
we will form a new indivisible
psychic link
that cannot be controlled
or broken by bad men
eyes will open
the butcher
will hesitate over his meat
the secretary will stop typing
the ball player
will follow his motion
to a new thought
the artist
will paint something new
that speaks
to the original cause
they will cast away the chains
just like that
and take up the axe
and this new battle will be fought
to the last living breath
for truth, justice, freedom
and the undeniable American way.

Gene and Celia’s Wedding Pictures by Lawrence Gladeview

grand pop
(retired fbi agent)
acquired the
photographer’s
address

the uncles
(schlitz connoisseurs)
piled into the
caprice and took
a ride

the photographer’s wife
(ceramic clown collector)
extended her limbs
to protect her
prized curio

the photographer
(con-artist jerk-off)
produced the
paid for never delivered
proofs and prints.

FUNERAL NOTES by Judy Shepps Battle

I died tomorrow           but was
resurrected yesterday
in jail (my own)
in health (who’s definition?)
in hope (fear and gentle prayer)
I died today
looking at yesterday and
living tomorrow.

Night came to Milwaukee
I didn’t see it                I was
dead and didn’t know it
Milwaukee was stoned and
ignored me.

Christ is a rugged man
lugs a rugged cross and
passes through Milwaukee
unnoticed.

LITTER by Russell Streur

Today I’m going to litter
Spill the rubbish on the curb
Take the morning lies
Tear each page in half
And throw away the red shirts and the Hezbollah
And throw away the juntas and the monks

Today I’m going to litter
Let the gutter pay my water bill
Drop my dollars in the park
For the minstrels and the tramps
And throw away the euro and the yen
And throw away the Wall Street thieves

Today I’m going to litter
Shred my voter registration card
Give the pieces to the wind
And throw away the candidates
And throw away the spin machines
And throw away the wiretaps and secret courts

Today I’m going to litter
Take my car
For one last drive
Toss the miles out the window with the maps
And throw away the rear view mirror
And throw away the license plates

Find one last freeway out of here
And throw away the keys.

Staying Together for the Kids by Alarie Tennille

For months I dream
of visiting my parents.
The air is not choked

with cigarette smoke, not
charged with recrimination.
No one is hung over.

We laugh, talk, play cards.
We part on good terms.
The next time I take a friend.

“I thought you were dead,”
my friend says.
“We are,” they answer.

“We’re allowed to come back
18 times to help the living,”
explains Mama.

Daddy says, “Sheesh,
I’ve already been back
more than that.”

Roll Another One by Carter Monroe

Driving to Arabia by Timothy Pettet

A cotter pin is missing,
and three wheels wobble
on my red Radio Flyer.

My fingers wrap
the semi-circular grip
on a handle that rises
from an axle that binds
on all but the widest of turns.

Oaks
and those trees
with five-pointed, star-shaped leaves
line the street. Trees
I have never seen
border the road. The dots
and dashes of a firefly hatch
expose a code for particle and wave
along a stretch depleted of trees.

They quote an ancient one.
East, they say – Arabia,
Mesopotamia,  and a map of Cathay.

At a Rest Stop

The mile
is a trick imposed
by the Romans. Distance
is an illusion composed
of mathematics, imagination,
and word.

At a Truck Stop

Half-way to Denver, an exit
opens a parenthesis (piss
rhymes with bliss, and I desire
a second opinion
on the span of ring finger to thumb,
sacred spot to ecstatic hub,
and the purple that curls
after white
blooms behind the eye.

I hear country music. I need
a new rhyme.) The curve
of an entrance ramp
brings my parenthesis to a close.

In My Red Radio Flyer

Fueled by the hum of melodies,
many words forgotten,

I deliver fragrant oils
harvested from an island
in a perfumed sea.

I hear lyrics
voiced by a mouth
insinuated by a cloud.

I witness faces in the bark
on both sides
of a slender, Arabian tree.