February 2012
13 posts
7 tags
FROZEN CRESCENDO
KEVIN RIDGEWAY
======
The fire of summer is
put out by the shimmering
quilt of color blanketing
the autumn world,
and the mania of autumn
is frozen in time
by the cold bitch of
winter’s frost
this mind slows
into a jazzy downturn of
horn solos and sadistic
drum clatters rumble
across the blacktops of
a cold space of dreams
that linger from the
uncertain rants
of the mind—
holidays come and...
4 tags
GENTLENESS OF MENDING
JOHN SWAIN
======
White thread separates
on the knife
to retie
edges torn at the collar of my shirt.
Gentleness of mending
alone at home
in the evening
like when mother sang
at the window.
The vessel on the table
holds a flower of snow
to remember
close warmth
like blood on the cloth
for the appearance
I feign together
with a thimbleful.
======
John Swain lives in Louisville, Kentucky. Thunderclap...
7 tags
6 tags
SCHRODINGER'S CAT
DIANE CAMBERN
======
This cosmic affair
leaves a hollow morning-after taste.
Daylight shredding your fingers from my skin;
my lips left stumbling over the outline of your name.
-
(a tiger is crouching where my heart last was -
gaze blazing fierce and true,
golden eyes piercing through forests of lies…
Schrodinger’s cat lives within me and you)
-
1,099 – every single one – nights have...
9 tags
THE OTHER SIDE OF DISTANCE
ROY COUGHLIN
======
We drove through most of the night, through most of Texas, through eight CDs and a mixtape you made for an ex, but you couldn’t remember which. We drove through hunger, fatigue, amphetamines, fatigue, hunger. We drove through a Carl’s Jr. at 6 AM, it was hot and cheap. We drove over cliffs but they were mirages, the heat making lines on the pavement, we drove over...
14 tags
DESPERADO CHE
DAVID SCOTT POINTER
======
If Che Guevara had
saddled up like Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid, the CIA, Green
Beret and Bolivian Army
might still be in hot,
haggard pursuit, everyone
needing a buffalo horn
flask, cutting the parched
into liquid perfection,
everybody on duty powering
through their small parts in
global expansion until
their blood pressure’s high,
and earning potential’s low,
and...
11 tags
7 tags
A PHOTOGRAPH
TYLER ATWOOD
======
A photograph,
conjuring your lush horseplay hips.
My ravenous criminal forgets forgiveness,
aperture disturbed innocence.
You radiant runaway,
we giant parched monoliths,
disguised robots,
eternal.
======
Tyler Atwood facilitates a writing workshop each week before the Portland Poetry Slam. He also works full time as a grocery clerk on a night crew in downtown Portland. He...
Happy Valentine's Day from PIPE DREAM. →
Here is a love song. XXX, L.R. Dalby Founder
P.S. I am sexually attracted to all of you.
6 tags
11 tags
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT,
Smalldoggies Press is having a bitchin’ competition to win a FREE copy of their new book! Aggh! Excite! Excite!
All you have to do is write a false/true story about a fight between brothers/siblings and post it to their wall @ http://www.facebook.com/smalldoggiespress I posted one just now that ya’ll can read: “ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO”. I forgot to do that...
9 tags
ATTENTION WRITERS,
I am pleased to announce that my friends, The Sparrow Ghost Collective, are gearing up to create their second anthology of poetry.
This up and coming publishing company has heart, wit, and balls. I see great things in their future. I highly recommend that you look them up if you haven’t already by visiting their facebook at...
9 tags
DEAR PORTLAND POETS,
I want you to make a video of your spoken word and participate in THE SHANGHAI TUNNELS PROJECT.
Reasons to do this:
1) 300 DOLLAR CA$H PRIZE.
2) FAME.
3) NO ENTRY FEE.
4) WHY THE HELL NOT?
THE SHANGHAI TUNNELS PROJECT is a collaboration between HAL PUBLISHING OF SHANGHAI CHINA , UNSHOD QUILLS OF PORTLAND, OREGON, and Monica Storss to produce a cross-cultural, trans-Pacific video poetry film...
