Jazz on a rainy night

by Stephen Barry

Driving across the Hudson
on a rainy Friday night.
Chet Baker on the radio
blowing cool jazz from fifty years ago.
"Alone together" the deejay says,
as the windshield wipers keep time
with the soft brushes on the drums
and fat raindrops on the roof
give a tinny echo to the big notes
the sad man played.
driving home with the bittersweet tune,
played by a man long dead,
for a love long dead,
we prepare to be alone together
to share the music of silence.

Stephen Street

by Jennifer Lobaugh

Remember that summer they
tore down the school house?
When the world had just
ended (it was starting to show).

We were standing unguarded, all
sunburned and barefoot, with our
white cotton dreams on
your unmowed front lawn.

You were dressed as a
traffic light with your kid
brother Alstin, and we couldn’t stop
laughing, but I don’t remember why.

We were stuck there on Stephen Street
with chills and an iPod. Taking
solace from snow cones and
hands intertwined.

Now each time that you
smile, I still hear the same
music. I taste the sweet
sadness of our cobalt collapse.

And I wonder if I could let
go of this madness, this
elliptical magic, and
your hungry blue eyes.

Madrid

by Andy Slade

Perfect nails, perfect for playing,
perfect for inscribing shoulder blades,
with marks of possession and ownership, crossed,
instead they instil an evening desire
in the tightly-wound sound of acoustic guitar
a flick of his fingers, a flick of his wrist,
a twelve-string prelude to human chords,
this Toreador, with sound as his sword
taps his thumb, percusses the Spruce
caresses her mood, conjures duress,
picks wires, as he does hair and his moment,
carefully, with dreams of undressing,
with a look of intent, frustrates her with tempo
until she gulps and concedes, worn-out like a Bull,
a last look through the base of an empty glass
the Rioja comes on, disarmed, charmed
affected, won over, Madrid's serenade.

But Liquor’s Quicker & Doesn’t Cost as Much

by James Babbs

when I saw her she was crying
looking down at the cell phone in her hand
I kept thinking
what an attractive girl she was
the kind of woman that made you ache
just looking at her
but I hadn’t fucked anybody in a long time
so that may have had something to do with it
I went over and asked her
if she needed some help
oh
she said looking up
seeing me for the first time
I don’t know
she said looking me over
I wasn’t anything to write home about
as far as looks went
but I wasn’t the worst looking guy in the world
she said
my car died and I was
trying to call my parents
I told her
okay
she hesitated
like she was weighing something in her mind
but I didn’t know what it was
finally she said
we don’t really get along
my parents I mean
I’ve been trying to move out
I said
oh, I see
I pretended to look at
the watch I wasn’t wearing
I said
look
I can give you a ride and
if you want to
you can stay at my place
until you get things figured out
she told me her name was Candy
I asked her if she’d like to get a drink first
before we went to get her things
she smiled and said
she could certainly use one
I decided to take her to
this little out-of-the-way place
on the outskirts of town
it was nice and quiet and
they made the drinks strong
I think everybody in there
wanted to fuck Candy
when we walked into the place
including the women
she was definitely a good-looking girl
a hell of a lot better than most of the women
I was usually able to attract
we had one drink
then two drinks and three drinks and
it was almost midnight
when I told Candy
maybe
we should go get her things
she kissed me
pushing her tongue into my mouth
she said
okay and
I heard her laugh
we got up and helped each other to the car
Candy kept trying to give me
the directions to her parents’ house
but every time I followed them
she told me this wasn’t it
after about an hour of this
we made it to the right place
I parked on the street and
told her I’d wait in the car
Candy gave me a sloppy kiss
told me she wouldn’t be very long
I looked at the house
saw some lights come on
I heard voices
about twenty minutes later
Candy came out carrying two suitcases
I got out and put them in the trunk
Candy said
I’ll be right back
she disappeared into the house again
this time I didn’t hear any voices
I guess they had said
all they wanted to say
Candy came back to the car
we drove to my place
I carried the suitcases into the house
Candy pulled a wad of bills from her purse
she said
I stole my Mom’s emergency fund
Candy laughed
she keeps it in the freezer
wrapped up in aluminum foil
she doesn’t think anybody knows about it
I put an SOS pad in its place
and put the whole thing back in the freezer
Candy laughed again
won’t she be surprised
I took Candy to my bedroom
showed her where she could put her stuff
I told her it was getting late and
I was really tired
Candy gave me another kiss
a long slow one
I got undressed and climbed into bed
Candy put some of her stuff away
I hear her in the bathroom
I must have fallen asleep
because
when I woke up the room was dark
I felt Candy breathing next to me
I looked at the clock
I’d been asleep for a couple of hours
I pushed up against Candy
she murmured something and
I went back to sleep
in the morning
Candy gave me a wake-up call
she started by sucking my cock
then she climbed on top of me and
rode me all the way to the end
we showered together
I took my time washing Candy’s tits
I made sure they were nice and clean
I asked her what she wanted for breakfast
she said
nothing special
I made us scrambled eggs and toast
I put on some coffee
but Candy didn’t drink any
I told her we could go see about her car today
I had it towed to the garage
I took my car to
they told me it would be five hundred dollars
something about the distributor
I pulled out my credit card
handed it to the guy behind the counter
for about a month things were good
we went to bed each night and
in the morning Candy gave me her wake-up call
then the shower and breakfast
but once Candy had her car back
she started leaving after we were done eating
telling me she had things to do and
she’d see me later that night
one night when I came home
Candy’s car was already in the driveway
when I came into the house
I heard noises coming from the bedroom
I walked back there and
there was Candy on the bed
up on all fours getting fucked from behind
by some guy with long stringy hair
I didn’t say anything
just grabbed the guy and
pulled him away from Candy
I threw him to the floor
before kicking him in the balls
I heard him yelp and his dick went limp
like the air being let out of a balloon
the guy started gathering up his clothes
I guess he was a lover not a fighter
Candy started apologizing to me
throwing her arms around me and
rubbing her naked body against my own
but I tore her loose and
pushed her back onto the bed
the lover was already gone
I got Candy’s suitcases out
started throwing her stuff into them
she said
wait
let’s talk about this
I kept filling up the suitcases
while she followed me around saying
wait wait
when I was done
I took the suitcases to the front door and
threw them outside
then I went and got Candy
she was pulling the sheet from the bed around her
I picked her up and
carried her to the front door
she was still saying wait
beating on me with her fists
she lost the sheet and
I pushed her outside
locked the front door
I heard her on the other side
screaming and swearing at me
then she was quiet for a long time
a few minutes later
she knocked on the door
in a calm voice she said
I don’t have my keys
I found them in the living room
I opened the door just enough to toss them to her
she had put some clothes on
I heard her car start up
listened to it drive away
I went to the kitchen
pulled some whiskey from
the cupboard above the stove
poured some in a glass
drank it down
poured me some more
there was moonlight coming through the window
a calm permeating the room
I wasn’t thinking about Candy
I wasn’t thinking about her anymore
I was just sitting there
touching the bottle lightly with my fingers
wondering how long it had been
since I’d gotten really drunk

Memoir of Degenerates

by Matthew Dexter

I’m the only one with the key,
The old don’t understand and the young will never know,
But both tell me to open that door,
Crawl down with the spiders into the fragmented cellar labyrinth
Where the spiral staircase like a ring that descends into darkness
A circus, you've rehearsed this a million times in your head
Psychosis breeze blows embers of egg sacks into your retinas
As air cools and you can smell a flatulence of fairy kings
Polluting the airways they meander through hairy nostrils and beyond
The light of tomorrow there waits a man in invisible cape waiting
To Strike you in the face with a magic wand the generations will never understand

And as the floor shakes he will molest your crumbled body
Oddly cuddling you against the wet earth the voices will chant
The young will be old and crippled; the elderly will be infants,
The distance is merely a mirage of different illusions in the mind,
And you are the leader; they will follow if you take them there.

Bellville Love Song

by Laura Eppinger

Picking through my jewellery box
on a day we’re already running
late by hours, I find
traces of you in every scrap
of metal from antique dealers by the shore.
I could put the gold-painted chains to my ear
and hear your heartbeat, instead of the waves.
Running my hands across the cheap
silver clasps
I realise, I will love you until Bellville Station closes
and we have to walk down Kasselsvlie in the dark.
Until the fish shops switch their lights off and then
on again.
I’ll love you till the speakers on the taxi burst
my eardrums, puncture my lungs
so I’m coughing up Rihanna bass lines.
Until all the glass
in my junk shop jewellery turns
to diamond, until
the tuck shop on the corner
sells its last Styvie for the day.
I will love you
till Bellville washes away
with the rest of the Cape, I will
love you.

Bin Divers

by Janis Lull

Hip waders, hand mixers, Zen masters of junk,
scour the Goodwill between Mission and Market,
loaded on hope. The ruins of wealth hide wealth
itself, a perfect ten, in a purse, in a pocket,
or in a color--deep red?--that sings of health
through heaps of the dead and dying. This monk

of metal rescues what he can shine. This nun,
robed in leather, tries to save our skins.
This wife, dragging a crumbling mind,
comes only to recollect, to troll the bins
for photos and old song books that remind
her of home: She is one and all alone

and evermore shall be so. Yet here in twos
and threes are families, friends: Romanian twins,
about thirteen--so skinny--with blond mops
and pale, expert hands. This one spins
straw into gold, while the other one never stops
counting. These are gifts they must use.

A thief slips on pairs of jeans behind
his lover’s outspread coat, and both get caught,
which means they have to leave the pants and go
out into the fog, hand in hand. All sentences ought
to be like this: recycled and modest, no
sharp points, like the treasures we’re trying to find.

DON’T STOP

by Wendy Ashlee Coleman

Don’t stop stopping me because I tell you to.
I need time to heal.
Don’t ever take your eyes off me
Cause you know me, and you know I will.
Violate me with your observation
Even though I tell you I don’t want it.
It hurts me so much,
I desperately wish I didn’t have to have it.
I don’t know why my solutions often come in the form of a blade,
One that’s razor to the touch and ready to tame,
Tame a spirit that boils in rage, shame and pain;
A soul who demands blood and craves the sacrifice of its very own flesh;
One that relishes in agony’s grimacing reflection.

I don’t ask my inner demons questions, I just pay them.
So don’t stop stopping me because you think I’ll stop.
Because there’s a reason it’s August and I’m wearing this
November-long sleeve…the one I just bought.

I’m running out of room, baby, I’m running out of spots;
Spots to hide; hide from you, mom and pop.
So, please…don’t stop stopping me or telling me to stop.

God damn it squeeze my wrists tightly and scream at me
Until your windy breath beats my bangs to a pulp.
Do it with anger; do it with heart; do it with concern like you love me
and you desperately really do want me to stop.

I’m doing this for attention.
I’m guilty as charged.
Because I want you all,
undivided and as pure as you are,
because these scars that decorate my skin,
it is my cry and it’s brutal, it’s bloody and it’s proof that I need you
I need you at your all.
I love you and I wish I could call,
call upon a god that answers me and soothes my all
but he doesn’t answer, . . never, ever at all
so fuck him. I’ll just continue to trash my temple
with perhaps something bubbly, something dry and tall.
something in a bottle that always answers, no matter what time I call.
And I’ll top it off with something sharp, something crazy
and something that hurts me on the outside so bad
that it makes my insides distracted and hazy.

And in my blink of peace I’ll get woozy and forget to call.
You’ll rush home so damn angry and tall,
please don’t yell at me, baby, you’re scaring me,
your so damn big and tall,
and I’m just drunk so lay off tonight, please
I’m really sorry that I didn’t call.
You look at my wound; a fresh one, an even slice,
one that looks as bad as it is but I tell you
it’s ok because this one, it hurt nice.
You gasp and cry and I hold your cheeks and tell you I’m fine.
But you’ll know I’m not
and all night you watch me like a hawk.
The next morning I awake in a bright, sober hell,
bandaged like a pro and you’ll be right there.

I think this is it, this is where you leave me.
I was broken before you came.
It’s not your fault if you want to leave but instead
you look at me with pure love and tell me not to worry
because you’ll never ever give up and you’ll never stop stopping me.