PATIENT NANA (By Joseph Cavera) Some old woman, Who says so? Watches over mom Stops from going below And her husband, a peaceful man Retirement clearly not in the plan, Cute little attitude, We all know, and love Brings us hope, Thank the man up above… For our patient Nana, Cook and Mother, Who else look us to? I […]
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Life Science If only I was older, wiser than gapped tooth, golden haired twenty-two, I wouldn’t have wondered, what whiskered man is this? His hair like a peppered moth, he sat stubbing cigarette butts into the ancient ruins of the bar ash tray. There was a familiarity in the corner creases of his brown eyes. I could smell the paste […]
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Song of America I. I see you, Walt Whitman, an American Rough, a cosmos! I see you face to face! I see you and the nameless faceless Faces in America’s ageless crowds of men and women who you saw in your mind’s eye. I see you crossing the river on your ferry. I see you walking […]
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AFTER PARTY (By John Biscello) She, Lazarus, back from the dead, with a musical vengeance— A beat, Christ, please, she asks of her martyred D.J., half-light, half-man, and out climbs her voice, grinding through rubble, a dark velvet toy wound up for centuries, released, on behalf of every last blue girl, unannounced, notes from underground unfurling a cortege of […]
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Age Has Curtains An incident in youth never meant to happen recorded on a pad to be read another time is found decades later in a drawer of socks by the writer who is then on the precipice of age. His reading glasses help him understand who it was and why he did it. Not so funny now. Can’t apologize. He’s […]
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Making an Attempt An enclosed UBH hospital room is the first step to maintaining my privacy and treat my phobia to the outdoors. The second step is to visit a restaurant and eat a grilled cheese sandwich, along with mashed potatoes. I have a window to view the sky; I don’t need to visit a small park […]
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No Fire (Parody of Twenty One Pilots’ song, Car Radio) by, Melissa R. Mendelson I ponder on something called fate. It could be so cruel when it should be great. My heart’s only desire Is nothing now but a dead flower, And my friends call me a liar Because they know I can breathe no fire. I […]
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HERO OR ZERO? To die on the battlefield leading a charge, Your body upon a shield, burned in a barge – An image heroic of Viking portrayal Approvingly stoic, quite worthy of hail. The fireman rushing pall-mall into blaze As on 9-11, the last of his days. No body recovered from building’s collapse. Just wife, children, mother to […]
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WHAT LIES BENEATH At base of elevator shaft Lives planet I once knew (Preserved by technologic craft) On which earth’s surface grew. Beneath a roof of greenhouse glass Lies planet of my birth Supporting seven levels vast Of Hotel Planet Earth. Atop the seventh level like The Babylon of old Are gardens hanging lush and ripe […]
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