Cocktails & Dreams, Baga, Goa

by Satya Dash quantum of pepper     in a Bloody Mary     so perfectequates tipsy to happy    rolling down my throatin jeeps of pinwheel candy    seducing stomachyou Sir be a fine mess     belly blushing a baby’s pinkmy frame a door    to seaweed pleasure     to impermanenceland of bones heaped on sour cream    a cathedral’s holyharmony of slow guzzling     throat raised     prostrateat gravity’s feet     Read More

How You Belong in the World

by James Diaz You can find lacewings on warm nightstaking away what we don’t wantfeeding on aphid honeydewmicroscopic antlions clearing the fieldslike mommas with bad brainstossing babies into dumpstersby the freeway at night but I wonder, in our kingdom,who gets to decide that sort of thingwho among us is wantedand who just gets tossed to the bottomof the satchel even if Read More

Animals

by Jerry K. Robbins What if animals can stand apartFrom themselves, circumspectEven the lowly skink,Look around themselves and reflect“What am I to think?” What if a horse’s plaintive neighIs his way of announcingThat life is more thanRunning in circlesAt the beck and call of man What if an elephant coming across bonesThat once were enfleshed and aliveSees that these bones Read More

In Heaven There Is No Beer

by Robert Beveridge I lit a smoke, leanedagainst the wall. Customerswould come, I knew,they always did. Secondhandvegetables are a specialtymarket, but a popular one. The demand for used Brusselssprouts is on the rise. The wanein popularity of the gently-readhabanero is cyclical; these thingscome back into fashion, as sureas people will always shell outfor onion in uniform cubes. The old joke Read More

Goodbye to This and That

by Constance Woodring I am old. Thank God. I will be dying soon. Thank God.I made shrimp cocktail this evening. The shrimp were frozen, cooked and in a bag marked:“no chemicals added.”As I write this poem, I still have a taste in my mouth. As if I made swimming pool water shrimp dip.I do not have children. I do not Read More

Remember Our Veterans

Today in the United States, we honor all people, living and dead, who have served in the military. Similarly, the United Kingdom remembers all those who have died while serving in the military. I realize I cannot adequately address or even list all of the issues and opinions tied up in our feelings about these two holidays. Please forgive my Read More