on top of ol' amoeba

by Jefferson Hansen

 

DeadBait & LiveMeat

by Dan Ryan

Desolate solitude

on the far side of something terrible.

Apparitions of poverty creep in.

Doubt creeps in.

Que es la vida – what is life?

La vida es dolorosa – life is pain (Noble Truth #1)

To make matters worse

     The dog ate my homework and the pig ate my pizza

I suffer from ortographobia

     Yet pursue inner peace through impulse purchasing

                                                             I fear all

good deeds lead to heaven which doesn’t

exist I’m worried about that Where

will I go when everything turns

black and I can’t lo       cate

my manifest destin     y

The church promi

ses a free gps pre

-programmed to

god               but

I don’t attend Do

I tempt fate Wh

at should I do

when you

consider

every

ones

fate

is

to

be

com

e a co

rpse ac

cording to

Kobo Daishi

                      ?  

Concept Score #32

Concept Score #32

poem by Jake Marmer

piano improvisation based on poem by Alon Nechushtan

the line of thought

red

    clown-like

slips  if only

to embrace its diplopia

both hands

playing windshield, what

you, earnestly, discussed as ground

rules, arrangements, anonymity

                  chopped evenly with serrated

breath,

then

                  looking for ideas

you’re tracing

the backwash

like an oceanographer

___________________________

Jake Marmer is a poet and performer. His poetry-music-improv record Hermeneutic Stomp (Blue Thread Records) was released in 2013, and first poetry collection, Jazz Talmud, was published by Sheep Meadow Press in 2012. Currently a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, he frequently contributes to the Forward and Tablet Magazine, and has recently co-hosted North America’s first Jewish Poetry retreat at the KlezKanada Festival. For more information, see http://jakemarmer.wordpress.com.

Alon Nechushtan is a NJ-based pianist whose album ‘Words Beyond’ (Buckyball Records) won the Independent music awards Best Jazz Album of the Year in 2012.

The Empty Bell

by Howie Good

No spring this evening

It is indeed autumn that returns

Face diluted in water

The lights are all out

Nothing stays anymore

Not a footprint

Nothing but blue spots in the corner of a sheet

The color which night decomposes

Rise up carcass and walk

Source: Index of first lines in Pierre Reverdy, Selected Poems (1969)

Kawa-uso

by Holly Day

the otter in the

water chirps soft

in time to the movements of  its

body as it holds tight with its nails

to the rocks to keep

from being swept away by the rain.

it has made its home in

the dark corner of

the river, here, where the rocks hide

long gray crayfish

tails curled beneath their bodies as if

to hide

the parts that taste best.

_____________________________

Holly Day is a housewife and mother of two living in Minneapolis, Minnesota who teaches needlepoint classes for the Minneapolis school district and writing classes at The Loft  Literary Center. Her poetry has recently appeared in Hawai’i Pacific Review, Slant, and The Tampa Review, and she is the 2011 recipient of the Sam Ragan Poetry Prize fromBarton College. Her most recent published books are "Walking Twin Cities" and "Notenlesen für Dummies Das Pocketbuch."

FEDERAL EDEN

by Billy Cancel

overmaster deep
clean y'all simultaneous
just feeling right recognition     nostalgia probe copy+ 
saves soluble bridge     signalswitch hidden anchorite's 
interlock authorized mask     visionary's trapdoor after- 
works scene     traumagnifieden hinterland     dreamt 
scrubland certainties     system back trap limitationslaught 
assure you this is irregular forward tilt     glue testimony    
farmer brown's bold red field boldissected redissected 
fieldissected     /     /     /     /     /     /     /     /     /     /     /
big day stress operative     again neurotic male     on the verge 
of rooted     clowns to the left MassivElegiaConstruct to the right placid
illegible grid best case     might tape a branch to warehouse door
loop cycle loopsychell     please slow down     churning surface for 
dog shit stock check at least
it is just holiday blood     but this is soft-worn 
looking hospital walk     with fog drip alliance
sunnyland inter-zone meanwhile
runs emblazoned counter

_______________________________


(All neologisms are intentional.)

Billy is a regular contributor to the blog. His work can also be seen in AlteredScale.com issues 2 and 3.
See his webpage.