Poetry

Paper Dragons—David Porter

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Paper Dragons by David Porter Paper Dragons It feels foolish to be this old. The world no longer beckons. It’s too late for a hit record, a best-seller, a massif of abdominal muscles buckling beneath the skin, even a semblance of bliss. The world is for the young; it must pass us by. We fall behind it, primping at a shrouded mirror. “Alas,” we say, no longer joking, signifying despair, preface to a eulogy. The tragedies arrive like weather. The losses ...

The Slip—Risa Denenberg

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 The Slip by Risa Denenberg I was reminded sharply of danger, of throbbing, of sudden death. Here, a lavender bruise. Here, a tender egg at my forehead. At sixteen, I ran smack into a concrete wall, chased down the hall by my brother. Just kids then. I have worn the years of depression from that skull dent with bravura. Today, nausea and vertigo. A concussion? Today I have curtly become an old lady. One who ...

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Poetry Letter from the Poetry Editor: Commonality and Difference Petting Mr. Sandberg’s Cat | Gloria Heffernen Radiograph | Mantz Yorke Files Pending | Victoria Crawford Frances is staring at her plate | Maya Wahrman This Is the Floor Where No Babies Are Saved | Jill Sebacher Healthcare for a Thousand, Please | AT Hincapie Paper Dragons | David Porter Vertigo | Jill Jennings The Places Where They Fell | Sue Fagalde Lick Dear Small Bowel ...

Letter from the Poetry Editor

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Letter from the Poetry Editor: Pain, Poetic Gifts, and the Reader’s Role by Steve Granzyk n the autumn of 2007, I was up late reading The Best American Essays 2006. By habit, I had been flipping through the volume’s pages, skimming opening paragraphs and bits of dialogue—you know, looking for something enticing. That’s how I encountered Marjorie Williams’ “A Matter of Life and Death.” After an unsettling ...

Listener—Jo Ann Benda

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Listener by Jo Ann Benda Listener I lean over your belly, Large with pregnancy, Stethoscope to forehead. In this quiet interlude I process what I will say. The silent Doppler would be too Overt and transparent. I see your tears. There is no blame here. I need time, so I listen. Your heart already knows The child who no longer moves Is dead. I require a moment to prepare for When the evidence is undeniable. Jo Ann Benda reads “Listener”: Jo Ann Benda, ...

How Ehlers Danlos Taught Me Numbers Are Insufficient—Jessica Oesterle

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 How Ehlers Danlos Taught Me Numbers Are Insufficient by Jessica Oesterle How Ehlers Danlos Taught Me Numbers Are Insufficient I tell the PA the pain is at a 6, but sometimes a 9-10. My answer is met with silence as he scans the paperwork, so I continue:.........it’s a parasitic vine seeded in the socket climbing up thready sinew veining across the scapula stitching between ribs and vertebrae choking the nerves sprouting there .........it’s an ...

Two Poems—Steven Ratiner

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Two Poems by Steven Ratiner Kingdom Come “Pain carves this white chrysanthemum inside my brain, the bloom his royal emblem. Pain is my Emperor. I am but the delicate throne he deigns to rest upon. Once, they were rare, these royal audiences. Now they never end. Morphine, Dilaudid do not preclude his fearsome presence. I bow, forehead touching the cold tiled floor. It is not permitted to gaze upon the Emperor’s countenance. His face is divine. A glimpse, and toxins spill from my bowels, my eyes weep ...

Two Poems—Rachel Larensen

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Two Poems by Rachel Larensen No Blood to Show a monster crow sits on my hip won’t let go steely talons grip to the bone draw no blood soot wings engulf me paralyzing painful hood it feeds on slumber shallow breath relishes the flavor its razor beak pecks a relentless mocking terror I’m its homely cage pain seeds my brain feeds the savage Barely Breathing now she sits with the hours around her cross-legged, bare wrists, palms open barely a breath she waits while the narcotic snake coils around broken nerves pain ...

Her Perspective—Leslie Hendrickson-Baral

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 17th, 2019 September 17th, 2019 Her Perspective by Leslie Hendrickson-Baral Her Perspective Masked bandits held me captive at knife point immobile, fettered incapable of movements slight full body prostrate surrounded by flat, yet burning, human eyes drugs at the ready Stealthy and not easily captured I was never easy prey until this vulnerable moment time and virulent enemies plotted with more ammunition than I could deflect lacking reserve to counter this frontal assault No mortal with heart could possibly attend this rite this vivisection of spirit a rending of my ...

Mammogram Sampler—Maryanne Frederick

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Mammogram Sampler by Maryanne Frederick Mammogram Sampler She apologizes as she moves my breast into a position where it ought not to go. I hold my breath as instructed, cheating just a little but hoping I don’t have to do this again. I’m silent but inwardly I’m praying gratitude. It’s a privilege to have access to this technology and the healthcare to provide it. She says I’ll get the results before I leave and that’s another thing ...