SCHIZOPHRENIC the story starts with a daughter image of a white dove & stops with a shrinking room the crushing ceiling rushing to meet her between the beginning & the end his voice visits her from time to time the sweaty fear of fear glides by, a bicycle he wears a cock-feathered cap she has […]
Aaron Kreuter | SHIFTING BASELINE SYNDROME
SHIFTING BASELINE SYNDROME A cup of coffee was always a dollar fifty. The fisheries were always at their current level. From the windows of an airplane the Great Lakes were always noosed in four-lane highways. The land was always distributed in neat tight little stamps. There were never any birds here. A moose was always […]
Jim Fisher | THE BEAST IN THE GARDEN
THE BEAST IN THE GARDEN “Mountain lion tours Gourmet Ghetto” —Berkeleyside (headline), August 31, 2010 Pecking and pecking at the chicken-coop wire The chicken cannot hear the chicken-keeper; Eggs fall apart; their shells cannot hold; Loose embryos are spilled into the world, The bloody yolks are spilled, and everywhere Sustainable ingredients are spoiled; Chefs waste […]
Mary Jo Bang | THE SCURRYING WHITE MICE DISAPPEAR
THE SCURRYING WHITE MICE DISAPPEAR Where have they gone? The cage door unlocked is left open but that answers nothing. The snow outside will hide them if they are successful in crafting flattened versions of themselves and leave through the space where the high wall ends. This is only the nothing that is. Not a […]
Kyla Neufeld | RATATOSK
RATATOSK In the Old Norse, “Bore-tooth.” Family: sciuridae, from the ancient Greek: skiouros, meaning “shadow-tailed.” He is a streak of red zigzagging down that grey ash, hind legs outstretched as he runs away from the Eagle. He has new words for NĂdhögg, can easily leap onto that scaly head, whisper them into his ear, brown […]
Robert Priest | THE WEED THAT GROWS WILD
THE WEED THAT GROWS WILD The weed that grows wild That you can’t stomp out Green leaf purple buds The weed that gets you talking Laughing Presence weed, fabulizing weed Washington’s weed That makes a great shirt Weed you can’t ignore growing on the path So aromatic That weed you had once in Ireland In […]