October 29th

amy lipman

I.

I kiss the girls
Who ask me to
They ask again
I put them to bed
Maybe you wish you had done that for me

II.

I already told you
I’m scared of your sex

I used to be lovely

My eyes were unclouded
My hands reached the bottom
You gave me an ocean and no place to sail to
Winds count for nothing when storms are your mind

III.

You shouldn’t have come
You didn’t want everything
I keep from you what you deserve

I offered peace through ill meetings
Over fires started with trash from his room
The marks on the wall that I can't remember
Baby pictures
I pretend that he’s dead

IV.

I still saw you
Behind both my eyelids
Keep me hidden inside of your drawer
Live with speed
Die with miles of sound in your ear
Find somebody warm to hold onto; now whisper
How good it is to speak low

V.

I slept for the first time
You at my fingertips
Inches from my back
That I would have carried you on

VI.

Crosses cut the fairest priests if sacraments are sharp
Chests are unlocked of blood
I will be unhinged of rust

Tarred and Feathered

by Surreal as sunlight

An eighteenth century room
that moans of men
Who wrinkled away their time
mixing ideologies
deciding what was best
for the American man

Mahagony dreams
and marble marvels
Making music so patriotic
It cannot be played
without starting a war

And these are the men
that we hoped into power
They are taken
by the photos and the satellites
just a hair
out of reach

Sometimes a bold man
or two
will stay few minutes
To explain a new dream
or take one step forward

but lo and behold
no one is listening

What I Heard Today (A Villanelle)

by Hopeless Hopeful

You were prepared for it all, come what may.
Exchanging blows against the demon within you,
fighting so fiercely up to this day.

Spending so much of my time to pray
for your sake, I wasn't exactly sure what He'd do
to prepare you for it all, come what may.

Your husband is left alone to say
to your twelve-year old daughter that they'll make it through,
fighting so fiercely up to this day.

And your daughter's pretending like it's okay
so she won't worry her dad, and they'll continue
on, prepared for it all, come what may.

We know that this is His plan, this is His way,
but we are aching inside, too,
and fighting so fiercely up to this day.

But from now on your skies are bright, not gray,
as you begin something completely new.
You were prepared for it all, come what may,
fighting so fiercely up to this day.

To Hold

mike swanberg

A flare pulled me out of bed last night
then to the window I didn’t know what
It was so I found myself content to stare with
hands turned inward on the cool sill

There was a song playing through cheap speakers
The singers voice was hoarse but moving
And the flare did all it could like a car wreck
To pull my attentions

I know that some places they see them often
they might be familiar enough even to make a wish
so then make one on the sound Of a gun down the street
hold your breath for luck when you ride the bus

In my mind there is a little girl on a burnt out car
Her hair is pulled back and she is smiling with twelve
Years of uncertainty in her eyes that know nothing
Of a cool sill or a night of almost absolute silence

Then it gets harder to fall asleep with my fingers
At war with the frayed edge of the sheet with my
Eyes uncomfortably closed like a hug around this girl
And there are a thousand flares going off all around me
Saying get up get up look outside

hemoglobin and sodium chloride

glass tears, salty lacerations,
cutting through paper-thin skin
and paper-thin defense.

cold blood leaking between
the cells of bitten lips.
always finding its way to the surface.

it loves the limelight,
the attention recieved
immediately upon its arrival

while the heart that feeds it
crumples a little more
beneath the pressure of deep breaths.

control:
a craving,
a luxury,
a fantasy.

oceans and sleeping, and sleeping in oceans, and other things like that

by amy lipman

I.

I’ll not be perfect
I promise my best
When it’s time for you to lose your first love
When you realize you don’t look how you want
When you are at home in an empty house

And I thought I would marry him
He would have been gone all the time

II.

I’ll not compare myself to a silhouette
An unused boat
I escaped from the dollhouse
No faith in the map I was given
Paper-thin inheritance is shredded
I wasn’t born to be a hidden document

III.

We would have slept
As waves rolling in
I wasn’t looking for happiness
I was searching for light

IV.

You’re the dirt under my fingernails
I cradle under the sink

I held you when you offered touch
You left grounds you’ve walked inside of me
I want to make you home

V.

I was a dancer
A sexless top
Spinning faster than anyone expected

I was chaste when my legs could stretch furthest
And a mistress before I could speak

VI.

My love affair with the dark
Sterilized my remains
Kept me from illumination
Of memories I seize up arms
And am instructed on just how
It's all right to sleep tonight

VII.

Men fear the earth
And the world dries up

VIII.

I’ve never met someone so alive
That they didn’t use punctuation

VIV.

Rip a hole to rain our treasure
We are empty piñatas
Her back is turned, he’s stopped promising
My father is the man who made me believe that boys would be better

X.

All of my mistakes
Are sleeping with their nurse

XI.

I am an ocean of vacant ships
Flood me now
Before I dry up
I came to you as a house-warming gift
Now I am uninhabited

XII.

Baby, don’t you grow up disappointed
For your lack of breasts at dawn
The man beside you is a satiated son
And you’re the chosen one to set

Tucking Me In

by: Surreal as Sunlight

Your arms found a home around my back that night
Sighs went unheard as the music blared over everything
Over spilled drinks
Over clomping feet
Over laughter and screaming

But with your lips whispering into my hears
I could hear you over the music
As you grabbed me closer to dance a litter harder with you

I left to buy us drinks
and I come back greeted
with your lips to my cheek
Dance a little harder

Oh you're so cute aren't you
Yes, we are, take our picture
the flash blinds us

and sometimes I like to stay blinded
keep that shutter open, let the flash on
So I can forget the truth for a little while longer

Don't turn the bar lights on
Don't let this dancing stop
Don't make us go home

Don't let her tuck me into sleep
because I'm still trying to tuck myself into disaster