Always Assessing Size
Between the size of a hummingbird’s skull and a whale, we take pride in being able to walk upright while thumbing a keypad and telling our friends what we’re seeing, thinking, planning, preparing to do. A hummingbird will not hesitate to attack a human being if it thinks it’s a threat. What a whale thinks as it sinks through the planet’s wet skin, no one knows. But, whatever it is, it makes them...
Read MoreCleveland Haiku #385
Abstract art— asphalt drops on the concrete sidewalk This haiku is from an ongoing project (close to 500 now) about the place where the poet lives.
Read MoreCleveland Haiku #384
Overheard— the career conundrum: life versus art This haiku is from an ongoing project (close to 500 now) about the place where the poet lives.
Read MoreAmerican Exceptional
There are rhythms running in my heart, wordless and sensuous as music, that, dreamlike, release images of mountains, massive, even grand, of prairies – especially prairies – immense, open, endless, American, and cataracts, rushing, tumbling, white, silver, sparkling as lifelines. In the caverns of memory, the skies of anticipation, the murk of the future, in treasured rubbish in the attic, broken streets of slums, flower beds behind keypad gates, I search constantly to find words for the energies anterior to words, for the e=mc2 of a single atom in the old wood of a pioneer’s...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of July 31 (Memory)
This week our contributors take you on a journey through time, via memory. “Listenings” by Doug Bolling goes on a hike through moments in a relationship. “I Regret Grinder, but, No Remorse” by Michael Lee Johnson reflects on past sins from a dentist’s chair. “Streets of Fall River” by Al Rocheleau recalls eras of a New England town. “Emergency!” by Llyn Clague tells the story of a frequent visitor to an emergency room, remembered by emergency...
Read MoreEmergency!
for Alexander Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was the doctor’s primary diagnosis when, once a month, Danika materialized at the local ER, was stabilized with steroids and inhalers, and sent home. Chronic obnoxious monthly bills was the insurer’s prompt analysis when its own nurse reported, “Sure, she has COPD, but there is no reason for her to be in crisis every few weeks.” Unobtrusive exploratory talks by phone revealed to Christie, on the insurer’s outreach staff, that Danika was 76, lived alone, and went out little: “I get lonely … anxious. At the ER, they’re nice....
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