Old Stag Giddy Elmer’s an old stag now shedding antlers snorting among the trees but sometimes Martha after her shower is a doe beckoning and he becomes giddy and heads for the salt lick happy in the breeze
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Once this bedroom door is closed the rug deals in flowers, its dark scent reaching up where your eyes expect sunlight and miles away the heady whiff from a firefly –already she’s naked the woman you just this minute inhaled, a deep breath who can’t see, has to feel along the grass though the dead still stake a […]
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Young Priest, Old Priest Everyone in the neighborhood was surprised when Bill McIntyre entered the seminary to study for the priesthood. He had been dating girls since early in high school and had been engaged since graduating from college to a lovely young lady. He often spoke about wanting to have a big family since he himself had been […]
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Crowley (Parody of Eric Clapton’s song, Cocaine) by, Melissa R. Mendelson The boys wanna take him out, but they never take him out. Crowley. His accent’s a funny sound, commanding his loyal hell hound. Crowley. [Chorus:] He can’t fly, He will lie, He won’t die; Crowley. He gave the Devil his dues; Rowena’s a pain in his […]
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She Climaxed she starts with a song. suddenly, a dirge too limp with grief, like the skies in Pompeii. it’s killed the birds in my heart, ships stagger like a drunk, into the white-blush of maddened waves. the earth popped open as an old wine bursts froth; like a hungry lioness she opened her jaws separating families with […]
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AUTO PILOT By, Melissa R. Mendelson “How was your father’s funeral?” “It was fine.” “Just fine, Gary?” Gary stretched out on a brown, leather couch. He turned to look at the older gentleman sitting near him with his legs crossed and a notepad and pen in his lap. His brown eyes held his gaze, and then Gary resumed watching the […]
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The Widow Next Door Every Saturday when the sun is out and it’s hotter than Hades Monica next door raises her garage door early in the morning and leaves it up long past noon as if Herm will walk out at any minute oily and greasy needing to clean up the way he used to every Saturday […]
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Almost Nothing On My TV by, Melissa R. Mendelson The summer’s coming to an end. I’m sitting on my porch, watching it die. Enjoying the heat and watching time fly, And there’s nothing on my tv. Almost nothing at all. All the good stuff is waiting for the fall. There is the good Preacher, Trying to save us […]
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High Tea in Missouri They’re the oldest couple my wife and I know and we’re no pups either. Peter out for a walk leans on his cane often to admire my wife’s garden. The English roses remind him of home, he says, and one day he invites us over for tea at the civilized hour of 3. That day at 3 we enter an old world in […]
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THE RETIRED ARTIST Such a relief to shut down my temples. I’m just a roof, some columns, an auditorium deep but empty. And, if you’re keeping score, I forgo the easel, the baton, and all that writing across time. If they want me, they can drag me out of what I’ve already accomplished. I plan to be […]
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