My Valediction

“We are NOT at the crossroads of life…”

So, in truth, my valediction began.

Not quite the speech the Administration had planned.

In fact, I should- would- have been expelled days ago,

For putting my drunken fist through the bathroom stall,

Except that the stoned-in-class president was already gone.

Which is how I came to stand for the best

This small country had to offer. My last words were,

“Farewell. I hope I never see most of you again.”

Thus I took my leave, severed ties, declared independence.

“A speech they will not forget.” I thought. But they did.

That fist mark though, remains to this very day.

I know it is so, because we reunited years later.

Bald chums all made jolly with, “hullo, how have you been?”

And, “What did you become? A leader of men, I bet.”

“Oh, no,” I incline my head with acquired humility,

“Upon sober reflection, I thought it best, in truth

To drink, clench my fists, and punch holes in bathroom stalls.”

Phillip Larrea is a syndicated columnist and wealth adviser in Sacramento,CA. In 2012, Phillip’s poems were published in 30 journals and anthologies including Outburst Magazine, The Poetry Bus Magazine and thefirstcut #7 (U.K.), as well as Nazar Look (Romania). In the U.S., Phillip has been published in The Decade Review, Rusty Nail, and the Brooklyn Voice, to name a few. He has two books scheduled for release in 2013; Our Patch (Writing Knights Press) published January 05, and We, the People (Cold River Press) in the spring.

The Fountain Thief

When no one is looking,
I gather their wishes,
spend them as my own
on the burn of amber –
the color of dawn
that once rose over a man
who cared to meet it.

Pushcart Prize and Kentucky Poet Laureate nominee,Sheri L. Wright is the author of six books of poetry, including the most recent, The Feast of Erasure. Wright’s visual work has appeared in numerous journals, including Blood Orange Review, The Single Hound , THIS Literary Magazine, Prick of the Spindle, Blood Lotus Journal and Subliminal Interiors. In 2012, Ms. Wright was a contributer to the the Sister Cities Project Lvlds: Creatively Linking Leeds and Louisville.

Carmelized

Layers

Window Guard

Broken Hearts Still Shine

The Tree of Crows by Caspar David Friedrich

Animus

If I did as I long to do, and kept
my eyes only ever directed upwards
to watch the lavender birds in their flight,
Perhaps I’d stumble. You might then end up
crushed beneath my feckless foot. Oh, ha, and
who would sob, upon seeing the helix
of your petty ego mashed into paste
like a stepped-on snail, and a noisy
gull swooping in to make a snack of you.
I would not sob then; but for now I shall
try to forgive your mean unkindnesses
for I have seen the gulls of Bonaparte
winging through the cat-pelt yellow dawn fog,
have heard their cries, and know you never will.

Zachary Bos and his fiance are principals in a literary nonprofit, the Boston Poetry Union, and they supervise the projects and staff of its imprint, the Pen & Anvil Press. Bos splits his attention between literary work and secular activism. He has had work published in The Christian Science Monitor, Clarion, Bellevue Literary Review, and Psychic Meatloaf, among others. As an editor, he has worked for Fulcrum, News from the Republic of Letters, Little Star, and a good number of other publications. He did his MFA workshops with Robert Pinsky and Louise Gluck, and studied translation with Rosanna Warren. His father was born in the Netherlands, so when he reads “Van Gogh” he hears it in his mind’s ear in the Dutch manner, to rhyme with “Fine Cough.”

Relax

Bad things are going to happen.
Your tomatoes will grow a fungus
and your cat will get run over.
Someone will leave the bag with the ice cream
melting in the car and throw
your blue cashmere sweater in the drier.
Your husband will sleep
with a girl your daughter’s age, her breasts spilling
out of her blouse. Or your wife
will remember she’s a lesbian
and leave you for the woman next door. The other cat–
the one you never really liked–will contract a disease
that requires you to pry open its feverish mouth
every four hours. Your parents will die.
No matter how many vitamins you take,
how much Pilates, you’ll lose your keys,
your hair and your memory. If your daughter
doesn’t plug her heart
into every live socket she passes,
you’ll come home to find your son has emptied
the refrigerator, dragged it to the curb,
and called the used appliance store for a pick up–drug money.
There’s a Buddhist story of a woman chased by a tiger.
When she comes to a cliff, she sees a sturdy vine
and climbs half way down. But there’s also a tiger below.
And two mice–one white, one black–scurry out
and begin to gnaw at the vine. At this point
she notices a wild strawberry growing from a crevice.
She looks up, down, at the mice.
Then she eats the strawberry.
So here’s the view, the breeze, the pulse
in your throat. Your wallet will be stolen, you’ll get fat,
slip on the bathroom tiles of a foreign hotel
and crack your hip. You’ll be lonely.
Oh taste how sweet and tart
the red juice is, how the tiny seeds
crunch between your teeth.

–Ellen Bass

Ellen Bass’s most recent book of poems, The Human Line, was published by Copper Canyon Press and was named a Notable Book of 2007 by the San Francisco Chronicle. She co-edited (with Florence Howe) the groundbreaking No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women (Doubleday), has published several previous volumes of poetry, including Mules of Love (BOA) which won the Lambda Literary Award.

Her poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies, including The Atlantic, Ms., The American Poetry Review, The New Republic, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and Field. She was awarded the Elliston Book Award for Poetry from the University of Cincinnati, Nimrod/Hardman’s Pablo Neruda Prize, The Missouri Review’s Larry Levis Award, the Greensboro Poetry Prize, the New Letters Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and a Fellowship from the California Arts Council.

Her non-fiction books include Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth (HarperCollins), I Never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (HarperCollins), and The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (Harper Collins), which has sold over a million copies and has been translated into ten languages.

She currently is teaching in the low residency MFA program at Pacific University and has taught poetry and creative writing in Santa Cruz, CA and at other beautiful locations nationally and internationally.

http://ellenbass.com/

Moonshine Drunk

moonshine drunk in no particular universe

with a lost sense of beyond I unravelled

and in the dark determined I was losing my mind

dubious support a sunspot in mad distress

spewing jagged minuscule lifeforms within

flailing dust particles

flaring in indignation we both burned

sucking oxygen in great pathetic gasps

black hole brazenly beckoned, lurching

I teetered on that invisible line between

spheres, realms and dimensions

some great force set me on pause

if I had proof of a hell I would damn you there

but annoyingly the sun rose and I was still

moonshine drunk in no particular universe

Ms. Lietz was awarded first prize in last year’s United Kingdom Frost Photography International Competition. Her writing, cover art, art and photography has appeared in numerous anthologies and in many publications, such as, Sunrise From Blue Thunder, Naugatuck River Review winter 2011 & 2012 , MaINtENaNT: Journal of Contemporary DADA Writing and Art, 4, 5 and 6, In the Company of Women, Visions, Verses and Voices, numerous Rolling Thunder, Twizted Tungz, 1,2 & 3,The Enchanting Verses International Poetry Journal, Songs of Sandy, and with phenomenal Phantom Billstickers of New Zealand to name a few.Paula Lietz resides in rural Manitoba Canada.

The End

Stairway to Heaven

She Lost Control

Katarzyna Wieczorek is an artist from Poland. She loves create surrealistic, magic worlds infiltrated with charm. The climate of her photos involves the senses like a good movie or some amazing theatrical spectacle. Katarzyna likes to direct stories full of passion, climate and secret.

Katarzyna on Facebook and on ModelSociety.com

The Unknown Feeling

What’s this feeling,
All I can see is darkness,
Like my eyes,
Have been sown shut,
There is a fine line,
Between insanity,
Between darkness,

I think I’ve crossed the line,
The voices in my head,
They’re always talking to me,
It feels like a thunderstorm,
Inside of my head,
A whirlwind,
Inside of my own mind,

There is a psycho,
He lives behind my eyes,
He just wants to come,
Make his face known,
To the world,

Is there a way to stop this?
What is this feeling?
The Darkness inside of me,
It’s coming out,
It wants to be set free,

The light betrays me,
All there is now,
Is the darkness,
That always finds me,

Should I embrace it?
I could form something with it,
When in this darkness,
I can finally see everything,
It’s all clear,

This darkness I feel,
It is my weapon,
My power,
My talent,
My Curse.

Robert Rumery is a poet and writer living in Connecticut. He has always had a keen interest in books, especially those of his favorite author, Stephen King. Robert’s love for King’s work began in childhood and drew him to his love of horror. Robert has always been intrigued by writing. A big fan of super heroes and comic book-style writing, he enjoys creating worlds in his mind and putting them into words. Also a big fan of poetry, Robert has also published a book of poetry, which encouraged him to write his first fiction. In addition to long hours spent writing, Robert has gathered a full team of supportive people around him, as well as taking part in a strong, creative writing community on Facebook.

Jack

Red Hood

The Hag Waits…

Jump!

Wolfcreature

Hellraiser Cenobites

Hellraiser #6 coverart

Bats vs Joker

Nick Percival’s highly detailed and intricate artwork has graced countless books, videogames, film, and television projects. Fans might recognize his work from Clive Barker’s Hellraiser( BOOM! Studios), World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering, Fangoria, and D&D. He has worked for such illustrious clients as SONY, Warner Brothers, Marvel, the Sci-Fi and History channels, Hasbro, Atari, and Johnny Depps Infinitum Nihil, just to name a few. Nick is also creator of the award-winning, hardcover graphic novel LEGENDS: The Enchanted.
www.nickpercival.com

Hurt Cut Bone

I am very hard to get along with regardless who you are in my life.
Including me.
I am not often as hard on others as I have been on you.
Long term, though, perhaps others would disagree.
When you open to me, I end up becoming frustrated and angry.
I get mean.

You want my Cary Grant.
Back to cutting.
Slice-and-dice me.
Me, full-on? No one can hack it.
Including me.

What frustrates me is your situation.
What angers me is my inability to do shit about it.
I can’t help, so it seems I harm.
It’s my lashing out at that we both find so hurtful.
It’s also incredibly stupid.
I think of people like you and me and it fills me with despair.
I know the world is viciously hostile to us.
Feels hopeless when I allow myself to see it.
I attack myself through you.
Knowing I hurt you hurts me.
It is like cutting but crueler.
If I let you be my heart I’d stab you to kill myself.
This cannot ever work out well.
We try and keep trying.

Gene Stewart was born on the 146th birthday of Charles Dickens in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He began writing eight years later and publishing three years after that.Editor Jeanne Cavelos favorably compared one of his unpublished short novels, Box Set, to J. D. Salinger’s work, while writer Harlan Ellison has called his work “Scintillant”.

Stewart’s fiction spans many styles and genres but hallmarks of his work include compassion for the common man; themes of doubt, paranoia, and the discovery of hidden worlds or agendas; and the integrity of the individual when faced with astounding events or intense challenges. Transformation by encountering and dealing with these hidden or wider worlds defines Ficta Mystica, which is the term he coined for what he most often writes. It might also be called mystical realism.

In 1980 he married his fiancée, who had just joined the US Air Force. For the next 22 years they traveled all over the United States, experiencing the deserts of Texas, the beaches of coastal Mississippi, the swampland of Georgia, the valleys of Ohio, and the prairies and plains on the region of the ancient Tethys Sea bed called Nebraska. In addition, they enjoyed extended stays in Japan and Germany.

His family includes three sons and two lively terriers. He currently lives in the American midwest, where he is researching and writing a novel of ancient sins, modern lies, and eternal truths.