Driving into a storm graying a cloud-mottled sky, mist climbs the building towers, umbrellas shudder below. A broken water line arcs an icy sidewalk, stoplights fail, freezing the intersections. The side street crosswalk cop spins and whistles, pauses cars as he passes the ladies on. Buses bounce a pothole lane, side panels milky with engine-melted ice. Street breezes worry […]
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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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Wings of angels slice through darkness, and the sun rises again on a world torn. And lines in the sand vanish, and the tide of war grows red. But we are still here. They take us in their arms, their life for ours, and battle keeps them from home. But as the sun sets, we look to the skies, seeing […]
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A Nuclear Childhood What if your parents had never met had never married had never yelled at each other and instead had wed someone they loved and lived peacefully all those years. That would have been their Eden but you shaking there now decades later wouldn’t be with us cursing the tremors of a […]
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Transactions Tourists stream through Bryant Park intent on destinations cultural, culinary, diverse entertainment, mostly shopping, acquiring goods too costly at home, pursuit of a bargain once a typical quest of Americans abroad. Now prosperous foreigners rummage our land as we once rummaged theirs. Gary Beck/Ignition Point ‘Ignition Point’ is an unpublished poetry collection that looks at some of […]
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ON PORPOISE Am I watching the dolphins Or are they watching me, Somersaulting on backfins, While I swim clumsily? At the junction of our worlds Where the land meets the sea, Somewhat shallow for their twirls, I can stand awkwardly. I’m not native to water; They’re not native to land. Still each other we ought to […]
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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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CORPSE ROW (By Joseph Cavera) Desperation runs out To the red rope Embodying a despair within doubt Leaving hope The soul lies here In this grim place Where demons fear To fall from grace This Mad mien Dampens the soul Perhaps the cause Of this pandemic hole Reluctance and fright will flock and fluster While the […]
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When we touch tentatively, kiss gently, vow to understand and love better, feel so much passionate remorse that we pour it out in streams of tears and caresses, apologise for our respective actions in the fight, and put things right, the intense feeling of peace – that inner this is right. this is the essence of life, how it […]
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Answering Machine My wife’s upset because I won’t answer the phone in the middle of the night even though the phone’s on my side of the bed. And I say that’s because after all these years we both know whenever the phone rings in the middle of the night, someone we know, maybe someone we love, has […]
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