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Poetry

dry goods
by Carlye

She lines the kitchen walls
with expectations
Holds her criticisms
like eggshells
throws them like bricks
She carpets the house
with cats and dogs
adopted for the virtue
of their long childhoods
She could not bring
herself
to believe
what her friend had done
to me
and once she did
dismissed it with the logic
of her Georgia-peach
upbringing
“He was black,” she said
“do you know how much
trouble that would have caused?”

She folds her dreams
like fresh linen
Stores them in a cupboard
under her heart
turns them sour with disuse
opens the door a crack
breathes the odor like
opium
“I knew it,” she says
“even clean things go rotten in the end.”
then she begins to sing
and moan

On my bad days she moans sear
through my brain with
Calypso rhythms
and I peel the blame from
my skin with
the sharp tones of
her distant humming.

On good days
she sings so well
I understand her intentions
hold on to my sanity
and don’t mind
when her words scuttle
across my brain
in my own voice.

exposure
by Lisa Silverman

loving you is
risking
all
giving birth
to unknown parts
a sleeping darkness
exposed
and craving
the light
in your touch

sunrise clouds loom
over my horizon
tears
fall in rainbows
watering mountains
deserts
oceans of dry land
cracked
parched
and
longing for spring
the colour of your eyes

this sensitive flesh
grows in your warmth
this splash of red
my heart

take it

film festival

Blinding vision of lost innocence.
true to believe
Race for the poet, race for the most romantic.
Look for the face.
Pale skin with the black dress.
The girl in front of me was crazy.
She kissed my shirt
She kissed death.
Mute presidents
Cheerleaders and stars that don’t die
They stand to sing, to crucify.
The girl whispered death.
In the road
the roar

Show pity

bye bye buk
by Renee NaPier Bartlett

fat girl walking on eggs
gentle seductive not one
crushed—oh no no
this fat girl walks with grace
and style
and makes others watch
as she walks by
while they get hard
underneath their clothes

fat girl walking on eggs
takes my breath away
the ease with which she moves
sensuous shy stimulating
the imagination
pleasing to all who observe
fat girl take me home
there
between your silky legs

said the sun to the lake
by Greg Simay

Your voice sparkles,
You hold me in your depths. ♦