WORDCHASM

or, Sum Up Summertime, Poetically Licensed Sing-Song Meter Edit
Just because it’s summer, there’s not always a last rose
Baseballs fly into bats, and bats fill up on mosquitoes
Camping corpses marinate in DEET, but still they are a-slappin’
Pedro’s fire works, as does yours, and explosions are happ’nin’

Mother nature’s boiling vengeance, roiling from the Verde Cape
Canes hurry west, [...]

I run
Striving to reach an unseen finish line.
Drenched with effort, drained, aching,
I race ahead, the beat of my heart reassuring me I am almost there-
I will be happy soon.
Running, I am full of cold, consuming hatred,
Bleeding sweat and bitter tears of impotent rage,
Knowing I am disappearing, paying the highest price
For a crown of vapor.
I can [...]

Bush
Clinton
Bush
Clinton
Don’t make it so
yo’ shrouded in know
Tho’ Iraq is Iraq
It’s better than Nam
Mainly, please no
McCain
Lord knows he’s
on that bus
Trusting in god,
guns, burning that oil
Nixon on steroids
McCain Mark IV

Bartholomew’s Place
The man cradles his little boy in his arms.
Looks at the boy’s long lashes that shield eyes of a gas-flame blue that match his own.
Bartholomew.
Looks out the window at the night sky, lost in thought.
Lost.
Stroking the child’s blond wisps tenderly,
He wanders to parallel worlds,
To a place where he is, where Anne is.
There, it rains [...]

i drove you there
not to this point
but to this place
she sat across from us
two scared men
asking those questions diligently
ticking them off one by one
i sat beside you
taking in your breath
equally proud and hesitant
are you?
did you?
have you?
how long?
Liquorpillscocainepotxtobacco?
finally
asked who i am to you
and you said “family”
s’funny how significant a blank space can become when it is [...]

It was sixty-nine hours of pretending
there were sixty-nine minutes posing as truth
allowing sixty-nine moments of us
leaving sixty-nine times we said and unsaid everything and nothing
……….. a clandestine pair checking only one luggage
understanding the full meaning of terminal
carefully upholding our guises and half truths
not standing toooo close
aware of the length of each gaze
keeping the conversation hushed
but [...]

Piles of pink plastic toys shimmer
Around her pigtails in the center
of a capsizing bed
She scrambles for shelter
a wet dog on deck
holding on
And squirms below father’s plump finger
Voices thunder and tremble
She wails like a siren
Innocent cries for justice and mercy
Without the words or why
A father repeats
Door swings open and he enters
A sibling with memories
Of such blood
Vengeance [...]

Swinging spade
powerfully low
glassy chips and
granite bits
My spine
breaking water
though separation
pangs
Jack returns with
icy fresh vigor
this old back
remains

Slick red wrinkles on
raw soak fingers.
Steel wool grinding over
bone faux marble
Bleach water bucket
stings eyes nose
though nowhere
near
He says hurry.
“We need
glass.”
But fast is not
clean and salmon
else’s guilt

Out of Virginia and Carolina
to new hills and red clay
Scots-Irish, German, English
With stills, hounds, home brew
Children in packs
Bearing freckles and chestnut curls
Massacring oak and hickory
For slab-board shacks and fields of corn, potatoes, cabbage, hemp, tobacco
Subsistence
I am not a flat-lander of the Tipton Til Plain
I am of the Upland,
of Pentecost Revivals,
rusted four wheel drive Chevys,
from those [...]

kill the secret lingering joy
she wakes from the fever
never let her broken smile heal
make the child-life melt like ice
with its almost translucent angel beauty

We from the South
and the rich eat the poor
Alley gator needle arms
dank whispers in the dark
Ozone escapes
through hollow pockets
Gone and where?
North city lights
Sunny dark enough
Empty not gone
I’m stark with
eyes horizontal
Bang the night
black bright fear
silent alone
when running
The valley is high
She is my sun
Hearing then
and never gone

I exist.
I know it
Because I feel pain
The agony as I kill myself.
The luxurious curves are cut away
No more nonsense, I tell myself unmercifully
Wielding the evil knife shaped like an endless clock.
I become limited, beauty-less, shapeless, frill-less
I get smaller, thinner, transparent
As the excess layers fall
To planes and angles.
Cut, cut, cut,
Dying.
Go on,
Shave the head
Glory is a farce [...]

Look through the dirty glass
I almost see the sky
The clutter builds and grows
I almost want to cry
Unhappy and alone
I almost want to die
But I don’t know why
I wish I had a clue
‘Cause maybe I could try
No idea what to do
Fake confidence: a lie
Can someone please speak up
Raise your voice, don’t be shy
These feelings can’t be [...]

She shot my heart, twenty
caliber pistol–spiteful,
vengeful–I could not turn, plead,
beg forgiveness.
She loaded bullets packed
of cheat-ful powder–bang! Civil war,
both sides lost–countless reminiscence,
slaughtered romance.

Speak elongated breath–a kite
carry words, imagine–me
on a journey, blue sky–white–in
cloud pillow. Lonely head rest,
bosom soft, impressing comfort–ear
deaf to all, but your mouth.

You will be death
to the heart, outside bars
like little sparrow, trust feline
not stalk under its cage.
There, I–fragile–trust
freedom to give myself
like feline in lap. I surrender
independence, selfishness–you pounce,
feathers asunder! skwaks!
silent, you prance; another lap, bed.
My wings, sprung, cage me
to this ravaged heart.

Lift me to dream: nightfall breeze
whisking yellow curls; bosom-balloon
floating heavy head; finger-feet
tiptoeing disheveled hair; lip-sponges
soaking anxious tears; hand-wings
gliding across frantic face
to carry me from hard woes.

Outer evil is brilliant light
Compared to the inner darkness that cloaks
My soul with heartlessness.
Men are pawns,
I am their hollow King.
Beauty was meant to be effaced,
Graffiti was made for the whitest walls.
Come close and fear not,
There is nothing to worry about
Except for the fundamental difference
That lies beneath our identical faces.
You live, and I am dead.

I know you better than you know yourself.
I know why you think the way you do,
I know what makes you tick.
You would not believe the truth.
Ask me, when there is nothing left.
Come to me and I will help you draw the blade against your wrists.
Watch the smoke and the black blood pour.
Then morning will [...]

linger at the secret stream of life,
kill the sacred angel with trust and night.
sail from our universe
so to not see me die
when she embraces eternity.
you smile and ask why,
influence heart and mind
with your beauty like delicious poison.
we must wake from this slow-dancing fever
regret this lie and understand
perhaps we will change in time
for there is always [...]

Glass castle of the forest
To see the leaves
without a sneeze
Temple of light
no shadows
tall alone
Unknown beauty
observing
fragility

There is a road,
a one lane road
(come)
that is paved with ruby blood.
I have walked it already
and am waiting for you.
It’s length is ten years,
ages of exorcism
(hell)
And the darkness of light,
where your best friends will be
Fear, Fury, Chaos, Void,
(love you)
the drowning of the dangerous
silence that threatens your peaceful
(torture)
existence.
Cover your eyes against the
dancing beauty
(venom)
and feel it strip [...]

Born with the glow
though nigh womb leaving
cleaving heart’s cache
lash humming song
wrong that write again
Zen stands forlorn

Andy’s arm already itches intermittently
Feeling frankly forward flu
A calculated corporate computer campaign
Or magic mountain merrily matriculating
In villainous veracose vivarin veins

Blowing kisses for the trees
Scrambling twilight miles
He points to the sky and says
Looka that
We are born perfect
Now I know
We know love —
curious compassion
Tiny arms tight ’round my neck
Making me cry
and wonder
again

I will soak
through to the bone
some rainy days
Some scorching days
my skin will die
ultra-violently
on desolate others
I won’t talk to
a soul
or the ones i see
will treat me like
a nuisance
some fearful days
i will cry because
i miss you
on loving days
i will laugh because
we’re so close!
a god
disguised as
a vagrant
but then
also vagrants
are god
transforming
from knowledge
to experience
creating a path
from asphalt and
inspiration
would you like
to [...]

As you walk along the shore,
Take the dissonant seventh to the major key.
Let the resolution
Stand with tiny Emma, the killings, the laughter, the weddings.
Through them you can clearly see the pure distant horizon
When you lift
Your eyes from the depths
And look across the stormy ocean,
Believing that you can and will walk on the water.
Live as though [...]

how does
a forest fire
start?
sometimes
lightning strikes
quickly; naturally
some might say
this is a disaster
NO
from the ash of the fire
springs new life,
new opportunities
perhaps one day
when the time is right,
we will find the embers
still glowing in our hearts,
we can rekindle
this glorious blaze
place some rocks around it
and use its heat to
prepare the recipes of life
and
burn the forests of the world
down to [...]

with empty bottles and
forgotten strawberries our
eyes swirl and
bodies tangle
not a breath of air may
pass between us;
not a single stone is
left unturned
but its not the wine
that drives this
venture to
divinity:
high tide,
the fusion between
parched land and
drowning sea,
prescribed by
neither vast ocean
nor endless beach,
presses from above–
inspired by the
omnipotent influence of
a reflective moon it
rises and falls.
the water’s edge while
always present is
always [...]

by Andrew Koop
He runs free; crunching leaves underfoot
flailing assortment of sticks
glee overcomes a face
carefree, lawless, conscious
curly sweaty mop
atop flushed dimple cheeks
Neither of us tiring
this moment lasts forever
I tag alongside exuberance
And just being near
I am youth
the wind; the colors; the scent
Leaves burning far away
reach my nose
knowing I never really left
and never will

by Andrew Koop
a malnourished cactus
nothing but spines
leaning, spawning through frost
heavy rain only erodes
the heat sings back
too late
withering sparse fruit
transgressions unforgotten
blind bulldozer screams
agent of change
reextinction awaits
random blessed birth

by Andrew Koop
White tees on a black sky under the stolid deadeye beam’s watch; manic blue brother flashes blind panic eyes; and the silence persists. The cow bell night train blazes night speed, shatter-rattling and cutting the quiet. Then it returns: that starless night without sound.
Ghosts from the underworld, Pluto drags vigilant Cerberus [...]

by Brijida Prano
At the funeral
You see me in black.
I let you think I am mourning the dead.
But the dead are dead-
I lament the love
That never once had the chance to blossom.
Don’t think I shun you.
I love you, I just
Avoid the pain of trusting you fully.
Don’t cry for me yet
At this long, long wake,
Expecting of me [...]

by Andrew Koop
Bang goes your block
without notice
Slow fire fizzled ‘long
a lethal morale leak
Living for next
and never catch up
Fast food wrapper rat life
viral embers glow
Whole lot saved
waiting on the steps
Snotting cold alone
child nevermind
Mary go malcontent
just wait -
one more stop

by Brijida Prano
Ice, perpetual Winter.
In the Treasure Chest, the object lay
Suffocating, unacknowledged, dying, frozen.
The horizon held no hope.
Inside Earth’s blazing core,
In the cool blue skies that embraced it,
The Temperature Regulator saw visions-
Time was quickly running out.
Moved by deep compassion,
Regulator breathed warm, hopeful winds,
Thawing the frost, slowly reviving the object.
Regulator watched, smiling.
It moved, breathed, slowly blossomed,
But [...]

I hate you.
Why must you love who you do,
Tormenting me cruelly by loving
Someone forever out of my reach?
You take what I love
And fling it mercilessly away,
Your musical, eternal venom ensuring it will never return.
Yet you are the only one I can always turn to in my despair.
Because you try to drown me,
I desperately need you [...]

You are Maud Gonne
to my William Butler Yeats
a cold, impassive Jekyll
to my frantic, desperate Hyde
the proverbial thorn
embedded in my side
an avalanche that sits
and waits.
You are the hung jury
to my repeat offender
you are my iron lung
a phrase on the tip of my tongue
a song the words to which
I can’t remember.
My Scylla and Charibdis
a name to which [...]

Noah
Dedication: For Wesley
Noah and Livvy were married five years, three months, and seventeen days on the day the doctor told Noah he had at best six months to live. It was not the first time he’d heard this- he had not been content with the first medical opinion, or the second, or the third. This [...]

Breakfast in the madhouse
is no different than a diner.
There are bacon, eggs, toast.
Crowded tables,
the cacophonous hum
of constant conversation.
But if truth be told,
most of us are only talking
to ourselves.
And the silverware is not silver -
it’s plastic.
There are no knives to speak of.
Sui - Homo - Geno - cidal -
from sharp objects we abstain
like priests
and at bedtime [...]

A Shakespearean Soliloque Re-Write
To sleep, or not to sleep: that is the question:
Whether ’tis better in the end to succumb
To the gentle pull of dreams,
Or to resist the urge and use that time,
And by resisting lose precious awareness;
To lay– no useful thought inside my head
Hours on end of aimless mind wand’ring
Or make the best of [...]

Lessons
Show me how to forgive
When all that’s left is the wait,
How to live
When there’s neither pain nor faith,
But ice.
Show me how to dream
When my dove returns with no olive branches,
How to breathe
When there are no more promises,
But pride.
Show me how to be free
When I can no longer sing,
How to love
When I can hold on to [...]

…maybe it was the life.
or the sight of what had never been before
coming into being and so vibrantly making itself known,
the damp and the cold and the dim yet brilliant clarity.
I turn back.
…maybe it was that certain death.
or the approach of it, the sound of its footsteps
softly through wet leaves and gently kicking aside pinecones.
calmly [...]

They held each other close
with tears and promises
Bittersweet happiness
Exchanging those three words
He departed with promises of soon return
Holding their smiling picture
She stood alone, waving
Remembering those three words
He fought the War, remembering
tears, promises, and those three words
She fought her War, inside
hearing those three words
He sent her letters with
promises and those three words
She wrote back with tear-stained [...]

Sailor beware.
You know not where you sail.
You sit sightless
and stare at my face.
You read my body like Braille.
Deal the cards.
My life is an open book
in which I write
and just as easily erase.
Come close.
I don’t bite
that hard.

They tell me you’re great
Cascading when I squat
Fearing major loss
of hygiene

by Andrew Koop
Infinite channels
Pick your gadget; choose your sleep
Slough off the minutes
Everybody special — all the same
Anonymous ounce of fame

by Brijida Prano

He saw her from afar.
She was nothing exceptional to look at,
Not a head-turner by conventional standards.
He could only see her dimly,
An incandescent light shining in his gray world.
The scales over his eyes prevented him from discerning her features,
But he could see more deeply than [...]

The way we drink our spirits and hold our children
Like Denise on my knee-this daughter I call Tom Boy
As she giggles watching her father and periodically makes
Strange tangles of this red beard. Its like a jungle for a precocious
One And we’re staring at the screen, trying to avoid the glare hitting from the
Rockwell photo [...]

mister
don’t steal into my heart
like a vandal
and spray paint
your graffiti love
on the walls
don’t saunter down the steets of my brain
flashing that million dollar smile
don’t lean against my eardrum
and whistle for a taxi
don’t carelessly splash through my blood
as if it were a dirty gutter puddle
in city mid-summer
mister
don’t scribble your
graffiti love
on me
and call it art