Don’t Touch! “Don’t touch!” they cried; They really meant no harm, Had not intended To make a shaking, Jibbering apoplectic With their nagging. “Don’t touch!”, for their interior décor Indeed was fragile and expensive – Themselves and furniture alike To them untouchable, those self-pariahs. There are no easy stages; Somebody’s lost a memory, Somebody’s taking shocks; The papers […]
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Cold Water Raining between Them Annie has a nice washing machine now but she remembers the one her mother had with the wringer, the old-fashioned kind. Her mother took in washing and when the washing machine would break Annie would become half the wringer. Mother would hold the waist of wet pants and Annie would grip the cuffs and they’d […]
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Most Recent I’m making sure all is still alive. Checking the pulse of the homepage. Routinely observing to see if the rise and fall of ideas is still in sway. I make the most of this room, circle the table, tell my little jokes, and hope that what I’m saying reaches out like a tree limb tapping or even […]
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Photography – Who’s Ready For Church? (By Melissa R. Mendelson)
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THINGS THAT GO “BUMP” IN THE NIGHT The comet was heading for Earth To impact directly on Perth: “Unless we avoid This death planetoid, Our lives aren’t a plugged nickel worth.” Too large to deflect it astray If even they nuked it each day: “Alas all is lost, Our hopes away tossed. We’ve nothing to do […]
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Shatter Now, you have done it. Glass all over the floor. A space where it was. What were you looking for? Give me a better answer than that lie. You know who you are, so don’t cry. What about society and those who stand away? In that mirror, your true self will stay, despite living a lie, crying yourself to […]
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Work out of Progress I suppose it must all go on indefinitely – Just when I thought it had all been played out, All become superfluous. I am at the stage of universal discarding; I suppose that many people see, through several decades, What I pushed aside in a matter of months. Discarding is basic to life: […]
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On White Wings I Fly (For Misha Collins) (Parody of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive”) by, Melissa R. Mendelson It’s always the same, only the monsters will change Everyday seems like the heroes are fading away Another catastrophe, where Hope is losing hold I’d fly all night just to be by their side Chorus: I’m […]
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WINTER IN A FACTORY TOWN It’s the winter before winter. And the winter after winter. Everything’s stripped bare. The winds bluster like politicians. Only with cold air, not hot. Month after month, eyes can only stare, lips are too frozen to speak. The birds have flown south and are staying there. Just like senior management, except the top […]
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In Crowd I discover in myself this startling desire to fit in. As if I am some teenager in an afterschool special or training video. Listen, honey, don’t worry about those other kids. I am now looking for a new teacher than those crowding voices around me. An inner truth to tether myself to the world, eschewing the script, enveloped […]
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