Writing
Poem
Nowhere to Go
Maria Lisella
Nowhere to Go
A paw emerged
threatening my conscience
Your scent eludes me.
A needle punctures a tire
A bomb explodes
Scoring the walls.
Roof Dog, Ave. B, E. 4th & E. 5th St., 1981, photograph by Phili...
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Poem
MONKEYS ON CRESTON AVENUE
Gil Fagiani
MONKEYS ON CRESTON AVENUE
The Bronx, 1985
B--short for Beatrice--was the last of the Irish
living at 2208 Creston Avenue.
When I moved there in ‘75 her older brother
was staying with her after a stroke prevented hi...
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Poem
As The Insurance Dwindles
Dorothy Friedman
As The Insurance Dwindles
In this house made of wood mother formulates ancestry cleans the fish
and makes the rooms habitable despite the incessant drilling.
As the insurance dwindles in each room an ornament rejoices...
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Poem
Exiguity
Jeffrey Cyphers Wright
Exiguity
I never get mad, I get even —
written in glitter on the broad back
of a fat man’s blue jean jacket.
Everything faded
except the dust & grease. Grace being
a monument not to survival, but to
resigna...
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Poem
Moon Walk Blues
Yuko Otomo
Moon Walk Blues
I’m not following the moon
The moon is following me
I just want to go home
My hands are closed
Half clawed
But not fisted
For I’m not angry
I pace up & down
To see the secret of summer
I...
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Poem
After Seeing Bernie Sanders Win the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary
Eliot Katz
After Seeing Bernie Sanders Win the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary
After nine difficult health years dealing with Lyme disease and neck surgery,
I lived long enough to see the first democratic-socialist in...
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Poem
Fuck Buddy
David Lawton
Fuck Buddy
A fuck buddy will not respect your snot
No strings attached is a precipitous fall
A hook up can leave you reeling on the line
That more enlightened age a filter on Instagram
Don’t get me wrong
I’m op...
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Poem
There’s A Big Moon Over Brooklyn Tonight
George Wallace
There's A Big Moon Over Brooklyn Tonight
There's a big moon over Brooklyn tonight, big as Dino's pizza. There's an angel over Dino's shoulder, she's wearing diamond rings. An angel with a raincoat on, though the moon is s...
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Poem
Good Friday Diner
John Greiner
Good Friday Diner
The Louisville Slugger has got his eyes
on the highway and the motorcycle
that is going get him out and up the Hudson I-9
he's just got to go down to Brooklyn
and buy it
and once it's bought th...
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Poem
Countercurrent
Meg Kaizu
Countercurrent
I ride the subway,
Navigate through the maze
With my eyes closed.
Countercurrent in ancient canal.
I recall your smile,
The tone of your voice
Over and over again.
Your words spin in my head...
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Poem
Barrio Muerto (Defector)
Joel Landmine
Barrio Muerto (Defector)
During the poetry reading
in the new artisanal soda shop in The Mission
on a block that’s had botox,
a block I no longer recognize,
a man with one leg
in madras shorts and a women’s card...
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Poem
She
Rich Ferguson
She
She is an amnesiac moon,
a lunatic laundromat
robbing me of my quarters.
She has
tombstone tarot cards;
ties my pulse
into a hangman’s knot.
She is a forever leaving ship;
my arms ache
from perpetually...
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Poem
Conception of Love
Tate Swindel
Conception of Love
for Leslie Winer
Remember
when we
were younger
When
it was
acceptable
to lie down
on the sidewalk
Our cheeks
pressed again...
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Poem
Last Time
Lynn Alexander
Last Time
The last time we parted we were getting into our cars
and I remarked how it was such sweet sorrow,
and we laughed, already thinking about next time.
But that would be our last time
and now it’s strange to ...
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