One Year Later by Neila Mezynski

Her sweet face hardened, she probably thought that about me.

We have both widened.

Animal Sleep by John Grey

I’ve dreamed the quiet gather
of petting zoo lambs
and the fierce blood roar
of the pouncing tiger.
I’ve owned every breed of dog in my sleep,
even a pig that grunted in English:
“The other white meat is llama.”
In truth, with head on pillow,
I need to get away from people.
What’s it matter if
I’m in the deep woods all alone
and the bear threatens attack.
Who cares that the swamp
is full of crocodiles.
The beasts can speak
so I have my conversation.
Many will bite
so I can catch my rest
delightfully on edge.
They growl, they howl,
their fur bristles,
their beaks peck,
their mood changes
with the first glimpse
of an untouched deer carcass.
And, best of all,
when I awaken,
there’s not a one of them beside me,
not even the family cat.
No scars, no shedding,
no waste, no stains.
Just this flesh, these bones,
slow mesh of daylight and my head.
Thoughts replace imaginings.
That’s all there is to the beast in me.

Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire by Catfish McDaris

He asked me if I'd
read before him

"Sort of warm up
the crowd for
the main attraction"
he chuckled

I replied,"Sure,
remember the time
Hendrix opened for
The Monkees?"

Wrinkles of doubt
clouded his forehead.

Babe by Karyn Eisler

"There are some things you should know before we meet," he said.

I tell myself I should have canceled the date. Twenty years have passed. He's still here.

"Red flag," they said to me.

I whispered, "Babe, it's no big deal," then I licked his ear.

Absorb by Dorothee Lang

the heat will be born
trusting awake
we see happy evil
mismatches
green visions
of a pattern

in the depth
the victim unlearns the past
never knowing
how

who was by Todd Moore

who was

at the door
i asked
my old
man sd
death
he had
the dt's
& tried
to take
my pecker
did you
let him
have it
i asked
my old man
smiled
into his
glass sd
no
but i got
his bone

The Art of Being No Help by John Grey

somewhere
someone
is making another do
something
they don't want to do
and the thought
of that coercion
guts the landscape
strips it down
to raw wildness
too bestial for
my sensibilities
as my fear caves in
to wind and cold
and suggestion
my pathetic protests
shrunk to footsteps
cranking up
the neighborhood
with dumb echo
and I do it so well
my powerlessness
becomes religion
and the air smells
like both surrender
and escape
and I don't care
for one and
get high on
the other

- originally published in Palace Corbie #5 (1994)

Don't Cry for This Love of Blood by Doug Rice

I know how to pray.

I begin coming.

A word falls.

She tells me to hold still. Wait until I feel my fingers becoming red. Until my fingers are old red. Here with her. I hold my fingers in place inside her. In places my fingers move. Her body. Cunt down onto my bent wrist. I want my hand further in her but she is too small or too tight. Or it is an angle. I'm afraid. This may hurt. I'm afraid I will hurt you. I'll break your wrist. "Relax your muscles and collapse onto my hand." Let go. Two fingers two knuckles deep and twisted inside her. She stays perfectly still. I keep my fingers silent inside the inside of her cunt. Now, a third finger two knuckles deep. A fourth. She refuses movement but her eyes are frantic. I can see the flow of blood in her eyes. There can be no words in this much bleeding. My fingers becoming red. Her blood down my arm. For two days. For three nights. To not give in to fatigue. Her blood remains on my fingers. I pray I become her blood. She could no longer locate her bleeding through names. There is no place in here, she once told me, for making letters. Just a pause in her speech. To see blood without saying. This morning I am nothing but my birth. But I can't cover myself in skin again.

- originally appeared in Yellow Bat Review #1 (2001)

Four by Todd Moore

waco grabbed

fuller's hat & threw
it to me & fuller
sd you'd better give
it back & waco went
up to the old man
like he was abt
to give the old
man a slap upside
the head fuller
hooked a knife in
to waco's right
leg & he went oh
mama while i
dropped the hat
when fuller picked
it up & put it
back on he sd never
fuck w/a man's hat
waco was still bent
over when fuller
winked at me & sd
he ain't gonna
die but he'll be
walking real funny

- originally appeared in Lummox Journal Vol. 6, No. 4, 2000

#

rocko & lonnie each had

a dead man propped in the
back of the pickup parked
behind smitty's salvage
waiting for someone to
come for the corpses &
while they were waiting
lonnie started moving his
dead man's mouth & say
ing stuff so you think
yr a smart guy he sez
sounding a little like
curly of the 3 stooges &
it made rocko laugh &
he started doing it too
& the mouth on his wasn't
even stiff but the whis
kers were matted & when
he opened it up some
scabs wd fall out & he
pretended they were
words & sez you wanna
make something of it
& curly really did look
like he was whooping
except his eyes wdn't
move

- originally appeared in Asylums & Labyrinths, 1997

#

the day after

they got sonny at
the corner of
3rd & colorado
jake & i went down
to welty's garage
to see the car
old man welty
rolled a wet
stogie around in
his mouth sd it's
the green ply
mouth out back
all i ask is you
don't fuck w/any
thing there was
nothing to fuck
w/except 3 bullet
holes thru the
windshield jake
opened the door
& brushed all the
glass off the
seat before
sitting down
then he lit a
cigaret took
a long drag &
sd i can taste
death in the
smoke

- originally appeared in Asylums & Labyrinths, 1997

#

collins sd mona

can make her pussy bark
like a dog i smiled &
sd bullshit so when she
came out of the hotel's
back door collins
waved her over is it
still 5 bucks to
show us yr pussy she
grinned & we went
around the side of
the shed where she
pulled her pants down
i was holding the money
& she sd that's the
bank make yr deposit
the crotch of her
panties was dark
w/shit tracks now
collins sd make it
bark like a dog so she
put her hand inside
the hair got hold of
her pussy & moved the
lips while she was
doing the barking see
i sd she gave me a
look jesus the meat
does the work
you have to pretend

- originally appeared in Asylums & Labyrinths, 1997

with gasoline by John Sweet

first boy
soaks the second
with gasoline

sets him on fire
beneath
a wide open sky

and which one would you
choose for your
own

which would
you use to define
the word love

what finally
matters is how
much pain you're
willing to
endure

- originally published in Yellow Bat Review #1 (2001)