Poetry
Poetry of Jarod K. Anderson
Tradition "My legs have stood chimney-straight/out from green swamps, displacing/two naked calves worth of the primordial…"
Punch Line "At sixteen, every girl is an in-joke…"
The Thaw "The winter made us matter;/then it still meant something/to be set on stubborn legs/in spite of frigid indifference…"
Disposable Razor "On impact, the blood flattens,/perfect circles swelling in slender blooms…"
Erosion "The vicissitudes of smaller sadness,/the day to day discomforts nobody counts…"
The Problem with Sundays "It is important to consider household objects/to hijack the kitchen table centerpiece…"
Ohio Autumn "The crooked blinds plow the evening /like a palsied old farmhand;…"
Poetry of Samantha Boring
Cancer Stick "Tiny toxins trickle through/the tubular tip of my/taxable addiction. Apathetic…"
Grandma at Best Buy "Damn my ovaries, they waited /until I was too old to enjoy this /new freedom. I'm surrounded by…"
"Crystalline Cats" - Michael Mitchell
"Crystalline cats intently stare/through glassy eyes as they/pad through fragmented dreams…"
"Dare to Dream" - Retha Sloter Murray
"Once I stood where you now stand./For once I dared to dream…"
Poetry of James Barry Ryan
Maddie's Wake (Lay Down Gently) "Won't anyone listen to her story?/The story she never told…"
The Greatest of These "Salvation is a selfish thing/That one should want for one/No thought or care to others bring/Save only thoughts their deeds outdone…"
Bored In Class
1a. "There was a fly in a shoe./The fly knew how to fly…"
1b. "There was a cookie./It was half black and half white…"
2. "Have you heard the news?/My muse/Is…dead..."
The Stone Apart "Today I gazed down upon a meadow full of /blossoming flowers,/Yet saw only a single weed…"
"The Crimson Shield" - April Sears
"Twice a corpse and once a thread,/Leaks human sin of thin bloodshed…"
"Long Live Love" - Elizabeth Varrasso
"Long live my false King /My destroyer…"
"I wish I were three" - Lee Waller
"So you don't need me, never did and never will/That's fine, I knew that long ago/Three year olds take the world as it comes…"