October 2009 Issue
CONTENTS
***Be sure to check out our contributors' bios.
Page 1
"picnic" (art) .......................................................................................................................................... Frances Raven
"Between One End of the World and Another" (poetry) ....................................................................... Graham Fulton
"Untitled" (art) ....................................................................................................................................... Ken Paul Keegan
"a name" (poetry) ................................................................................................................................. John Grochalski
"Active Circulation" (art) ....................................................................................................................... Francis Raven
"Letter" (poetry) .................................................................................................................................... Marie T. Wills
"bag of your things" (poetry) ................................................................................................................ John Grochalski
"I'm Lazarus ... Get Me Out of Here" (poetry) ...................................................................................... Graham Fulton
"Florescent Pelicans" (art) .................................................................................................................... Ben Freeman
"Political Gain" (short screenplay) ........................................................................................................ Edward Bear
"First Unsaved Message" (art) ............................................................................................................. Graham Fulton
"Bloody Homestead" (screenplay excerpt) .......................................................................................... Terry White
Page 2
"WALL" (art) ........................................................................................................................................ Frances Raven
"just lucky, i guess" (poetry) ................................................................................................................ John Grochalski
"The Great Scottish Boxing Day Earthquake" (poetry) ........................................................................ Graham Fulton
"Black Cat in a Green Field" (art) ......................................................................................................... Ben Freeman
"Lines Written at Scarborough" (poetry) ............................................................................................... Dave Younger
"A Part" ................................................................................................................................................. Daisy Finnigan
"Untitled" (art) ....................................................................................................................................... Ken Paul Keegan
"Blood, Guns and Whores – An All American Tale of a Boy and His Dog" (fiction excerpt) .................W. Ross Ayers
"Untitled" (art) ....................................................................................................................................... Ken Paul Keegan
"Political Gain" (short screenplay) ........................................................................................................ Edward Bear
"Approaching Warp Factor" (art) .......................................................................................................... Ben Freeman
"Honeypot Inverted" (fiction, sci-fi) ....................................................................................................... Henry J. Cobb
"It's Here (at last)" (art) ......................................................................................................................... Graham Fulton
Between One End of the World and Another
Staring into the eyes of a bobcat puppet
in a Californian gift shop a price
round its neck too real
glass
looking inside
the white lines
at Tom Waits growling
Joni Mitchell soaring white lines
on the freeway staring
into windows cars
Pacific licence plates
a long line from home
These lives are smoke fires on the hills
hot burning hair on the arms
a joshua tree reaching for heaven
a shredded tyre like snakeskin
girls boys playing I-spy
looking for the exit
talking to themselves
turbine blades a farm of wind
why do some move
and others remain
staring
into the eyes of a dog
half-way out of a pick-up’s window too real
for words why do some move
others remain still?
Something
beginning with d
dinosaurs behind a drive-thru
life-size
a name
we give
everything
a name
knowing
perfectly well
how hard
it is
not to cringe
when someone
says your own
aloud
or cries it out
in a fit
of passion
malice
or anger
Letter
The other day Clark told me that Lucy scrubbed the stains on the carpet. I think she smells me. Clark squeaked, “Oh – she never asked about it.” He was scared. JJ shouts at the tv our eyes up on the ceiling we like how small the tiles look. A football game heats up the room and it's the half-time show. My body lines the carpet with minefields. Every play I change clothing. Close-fitted leather bodice, nothing, satin panties. JJ wants to know why I won't wear a helmet.
I'm deftly afraid of being stationary. Do you see this?
I saw Lucy the other day at a diner her face was powdered and translucent like an Irish potato coconut falling away – dandruff – a too white white. Clark wasn't with her and half of me wanted to slip out to find him leave my eggs cold tuck in next to him on a black hard bucket seat.
The cats suck at a fresh milk stain on the carpet claw and mew with the tenacity of a car salesman. What is it that they want the cold splash of something new a mother's tit a hummingbird? Dodie wants out when my metaphors fail but I persist to keep the cats guessing. They're psychic I know they smell me and understand.
bag of your things
i
am
on a new york
train
holding
a bag
of your
things
inside it
there is
a blue
flannel jacket
a red
flannel
shirt
your satin
jacket
four of your
hats
and a
pittsburgh
penguins
snowcap
an i.c. light
vanity plate
a foam carving
of the brewery
where
you worked
for thirty-five
years
a silver
plated watch
a yellow
t-shirt
commemorating
forbes field
and your death
notice
which i got
off the
internet
to prove that
you are gone
to the
good people
in hr.
yes
i am
on a new york
train
holding
a bag of your
things
things
that you won’t
need anymore
things
that i’ll have
to find
a space for
in the tight
dimness
of my
brooklyn
apartment
when i
unpack
this bag
tomorrow
things
that have
suddenly
become mine
on such short
notice.
I'm Lazarus ... Get Me Out of Here
We can watch Celebrity Dump
from the comfort of our flatline minds
and watch Celebrity Facelift Gone Wrong
and watch Celebrity Facedrop Gone Right
watch Celebrity Exit
as original thinkers long ignored
arrive to expire
on Snuffcam Prime
watch Celebrity Stomach Pump
watch Celebrity Shooting Up
watch Celebrity Necrophile
watch Celebrity Paedophile
and watch Celebrity Resurrection
Elvis Michael Adolf and Jesus
trumpet fanfares torn from time
watch Celebrity Hump
as the golden couple of the day
do sex in a new contortion of love
as long as they’re caught on Camera One
and watch Big Orwell’s Placenta!
as we vote for the latest accessory wean
named Krakow Caracas or Ulan Bator
depending on where
the foetus was sold the loser
neatly deleted off screen
