ABOUT

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

ARCHIVE

LAGNIAPPE

MAST

SUBMISSIONS

 
TWO POEMS
by Larry Sawyer

HUMAN DISCO BALL

The mind is a big muscle indeed

to handle silly putty and the atom bomb

morning news thwacks against my cranium like

a bug into zapper in any old backyard

your zippery morning personality quips

and then retreats into arch reticence

this is why I love you, and why I love the breeze

blowing into the window with its scent of dew

poets need dew, silly putty, and a smart ass

but not global thermonuclear war

it's always getting more and more serious, never less

which is why I need more coffee and why poems

try to make sense of it all, my hands are glowing in

that light of understanding, so I hide them.

JIM CARROLL

the tale you told
was an apparition
in the room
and we were haunted
for only that moment
as if your prey
upon a cold
plate, no glass
of water would
wash away that
slight laugh
as you spoke of
cocaine, called her
sweet, your story
cut us up
like cheap meat
just a little
louder for the
debutante in the
corner, no longer
virgin. Now,
I thought of turning
around but did
not interrupt, you
coughed just then,
outcome--another
diamond.