By: Chris Calcara We recognize moments when we know that something awful is about to happen, and nevertheless hope a miracle will intervene. There follows a paralyzing pause and then, the inescapable wallop. CRASH! We met the day my El…
By: Mickey J. Corrigan White Night So I drive the van to the interstateand pull over by an overpasstake the M16from the back,stick a flag in the barrel. Yeah, it’s loaded. I’m loadedand my eyes are on fire. Sun’s roaring…
By: Lynn White Players The orchestra are tuned upready in their uniformblack costumesdressed so asnot to distractfrom the musicor the on stage dramadressed for invisibility. And those on stage are dressedfor the parts they’re playing,dressed for performancedressed to be noticeddressed…
By: Christopher Johnson We’re walking through the Cook County Forest Preserves,The Palos Preserves,Which sprawl southwest of Chicago,Like a beastly wilderness of hidden flora and fauna.The path humps up and down like the tail of a dragon—A trail benighted and spooked,…
by: Mohammad Jashim Uddin This morning somehow I felt lonely as I could not pay my concentration anywhere else. Then I was listening to Rabi Tagore’s ‘If no one comes to hear your call, then go alone./ Let’s go alone,…
By: Edwin Olu Bestman verily I say unto you/love should be a democracy/of the people/ by the people/ & for the people these are truths/stolen from the lips of a broken pavement/its smile trapped in cobwebs I am writing for…
By: Frank William Finney Little Eden Our little oasis betweencondos and traffic sheltering shades ofgreen and grey. You’re under the creepersscanning the skyline. I’m in the doghousehowling as usual. We’ll keep our distanceWe’ll keep our vows till either one of…
By: Harman Burgess George was crouched in the bushes, staring at the backpack lying on the path in front of him. Not so much at the unconscious girl next to it—he wasn’t hungry enough to try his hand at cannibalism—but…
By: Allan Lake My adult children live far away.Their mother remarried. Dead relsring bells while those living send annualBD greetings on F-book that I don’t Like.Bravo. Bingo. Bangshangalingo.Would not change a thingo, Ringo.Old hometown may look the samebut I never…
By: Francine Rodriguez He didn’t come around that often. By the time I was old enough to figure that out I realized it was always around the time my mother got her welfare check, the first and the fifteenth of…