Joseph Fulkerson

The Lifespan of a Successful Failure

More and more I feel like I’m hurtling towards
a vast expanse of nothingness.

Like I’m late for a date with no one or nothing
in particular, but late all the same.

I’m a hungover hangdog
a misfiring misfit,
grasping at signs of life
in one last ditch effort
to feel something real.

I’m a genuine wino
a whining fake
and a successful failure
of a human being.

Considered a success by society’s
standards, but a sellout to the man
and to compromise and cowardice.

I’m a burnt up burnout,
sleepwalking through life
with an understanding it may
all end with a whimper.

A husk of a man
with lofty goals, yes
but no drive left
at the end of the day.

One who’s spent all his time
and energy on the wrong people
at the wrong time.

I’ve used up all my youth
on the hustle
on chasing the dream,
whatever the fuck
that could be.

What’s left is a half-wit has-been
masquerading as a man with a plan.

A wife, two kids
and a pension that likely won’t
be there when I need it.

Every day is a lonely slog.

But when I sit down to write
the Muse is there
and she tells me things,
some things I know
and some I don’t
but I listen all the same.

Sometimes she says nothing at all,
so we just sit there together
as the jazz plays
and the whiskey goes down
smoother with every drink

and it’s good,
and I start to feel better about things,
like maybe it’s not all piss and shit after all.

 

Daniel S. Irwin

Siren Song

I was pretty leery
Of her line of bullshit
Of how God was my friend.
Particularly as she kept
Rubbing her body
Against mine while she
Continued in her
Siren song attempt
At my conversion.
I could dig her
Handling my meat
And spreading her legs
In the name of the Lord.
But, way down deep,
I figured she and Jesus
Were just after my weed.

Robert Ronnow

To Have Loved Mary

Today is Sunday and I’m going to the ocean
or maybe not. Definitely not doing the laundry
or maybe I will. Moss and even a small tree
grow in the rotten stubs of the pier pilings.
The city is Seattle and it has a macho airport.

Give me the comfort of a moose knowing its
water supply. The mosquito’s acceptance of its position
among a million mosquitoes. The pool of stagnant
water that remains one with the mothering ocean.
I drift on the air, less than a seed, a bacteria.

Or I am human, big dick, big brain containing
universal philosophic affidavit. Pleased by
the churning of my tongue, sexual enlightenment,
devout prayer, gourmet dining. I swear
it is best to be alive and to have loved Mary.

Casey Renee Kiser

She and I / Light Breaks Through

Don’t bother me
when I’ve shovel in hand
Hot emotions are hard to control

She has got to go
+ the mirror said so +
Find a new place to rest her head

She lets people have their way
and drags me down
Today, I am taking charge

I let in a strange visitor
Fearless and free–
the merge was successful

She and those pills
are buried together
and I must show my new friend around

~ my mind

John Richard Heath

TMI

Five years ago I
took an ax to my
pecker.

Fact is I
was tired of the fucker.
It ruined the line
of my pants.

Could have
used a saw but figured
an ax was quicker.

Placed it on the block,
took a swing at it
(it looked like a picadillo,
fresh from the deli).

Then, Lordy, it piped
“Hey, Pete here, what
have I ever done
to offend you, man?”

“To start with,” I said,
“You don’t piss straight, then
you lie down when called
to get up

and get up
when discretion
would serve both our needs
better.”

But we made up.
He and I talk most
weeks, we do the
best we can.

Five years on
Pete’s a reformed
character, a model
of continence.

Hank Kirton

The Blind Woman’s Legs

The blind woman’s legs were shapely and smooth and Matt seared the sight of them into his calendar brain. She was two tables distant at the bookstore café, reading Terence McKenna with her fingers. He’d slipped behind her spy-like and peeked over her shoulder to see what she was reading/feeling. Matt felt comfortable looking at her because she couldn’t see him back. She couldn’t judge him by his weight or his height or the bruises on his face. She had no idea he was staring at her legs, memorizing her in her short skirt and flowered blouse. She wore big blind-person shades, giving her face a delicacy that he admired. She was beautiful in general but hell, those gams. He thought, She should insure those sweet stems with Lloyd’s of London. But the point was she couldn’t see him unless she felt him. Felt his face. And what were the chances of that?

The German Shepherd at her feet was looking at him with a bite on its mind. Matt smiled, showing his teeth to the beast. He knew how dogs talk. You had to intimidate them. The dog didn’t move. It didn’t answer back. Good dog. Matt felt like he’d won an important contest.

And then he took a swallow of coffee and felt repulsive again. The coffee had gone cool while he was staring at the blind woman’s legs. He felt it unleash in his empty guts, reaching into his bowels like a cold endoscope. He wanted to scream. He wanted to vomit the pathetic straight out of his soul. The circus in his head returned, filling him with a hurdygurdy&smellofpopcorn&sawdust&horsedroppings. He closed his eyes and lowered his head and tried to think of other things. Pleasant things. Maintain. Maintain. He’d have to regain his composure if he was going to talk to the blind woman.

And then he broke into a string of giggles at the absurdity of that ambition. The laughter bubbled out of him with volume and froth. It was too funny. Who did he think he was? He lifted his head and saw that several people were watching him laugh and blood rushed into his face. Even the blind woman “looked” up.

But he couldn’t stop laughing and the circus roared back. With effort, he squeezed the sounds off and took another quick swig of coffee. Swallowing nauseated him again. Why did he have to be so, so human? Why couldn’t he be, be suave like other guys? The light inside was way too bright.

The blind woman closed her Braille book and snapped her fingers and for a second Matt thought the snap was for him but the dog stood up and led the blind woman out of the store. She glided easily behind the dog. It knew where to go.

Matt looked at his coffee. So what now? He felt like he’d had an experience. He was suddenly exhausted.

He picked up his cup and made it out of the store without incident.

 

From: Everything Dissolves

Craig Podmore

Will You Buy Me? (I Come With a Warranty)

Catharsis on knife-edge,
The hungering perversion
Resides underneath the dust
Of suburban decay.

The nude body,
Salaciously splayed deliciously
Upon a busy market,
Men and women and children
Bite their lips like anorexic cannibals.

They scratch their skin
As their own existence becomes an irritant.
Morgue cock, funereal cunt
Like a monolith, heralded before the people
Has them in awe.

Screens exhibit operations;
Dissection of the penis and the vulva,
Sleazy and sexily so,
Promoters vocally advertise
The infinite usage of women
That they have mounted
Upon dirty obstetrical chairs;

Men inspect the vaginas,
Asking the sellers about the measurements
And tightness of their holes
And whether the subject could
Have anal sex or not.
The anus is spread before them
And proceed to analyse the potential gaping
For rough anal sex.

Each subject is a different model
Customised for certain sexual needs and deviancies.
For those who desire a subject
For such extreme fetishes
Are taken into a nearby dome where more subjects
Are exhibited for interest.

Women tease the male models
And humiliate them regarding their size.
For girth and length inspection,
The sellers are more than happy for them to
Apply some stimulus to the male organs
To see if their product facilitates their needs.

Beyond the markets,
The homes are infested with the dead.
Subjects tossed to the side,
Next to their bins,
Awaiting for collection
So that they can be disposed of.
The streets smell of decaying flesh,
Rats scuttle amidst the bodies
Of fetid decomposition.

For those who do not have such commodities,
Rummage the alleyways for the dead.
These less fortunate individuals
That can’t afford such desired subjects
Go on to fuck the remains.
Some of them take the bodies home
And make use of their innards –
“Waste not, want not” they mutter…

The buyers keep their warranties
Should their subjects die,
However, if murdered by their owners,
The warranty is exempt and will not be able to redeem it.
Some owners have their subjects for a lifetime
But the markets try to deter the owners from doing that
As flesh needs to be capitalised,
The cycle of flesh must be constantly
Purchased, subjects are always advertised
To lure in potential customers.

“Keep your receipts and returns can be valid.”

Some owners make their subjects
Into messiahs;
They dress them up and make them godlike
And then go on to proclaim
That their subject is a deity
Willing to suffer for their desires.
Their sins consumed by the flesh of subjects,
Plasticised like cheap crucifixes from a bargain basket.

The consumption of goods eroticised for the good of man
And the future of the economy in safe hands.
Sometimes we forget,
We are also the goods that makes the greedy hands
Rub the coins erratically in their inhuman pock

Matthew Licht

A Letter to the Editor

My co-worker Francine (not her real name) always sent so many mixed signals.

Though a confirmed metrosexual, I consider myself straight. I try to dress well, work out, use hair- and skin-care products. Many women at work pay compliments, but Francine went further. She winked, sometimes even “copped a feel” of my suits and ties. She asked for fashion tips, and we used to go on lunch-hour shopping safaris together.

Francine’s older than I am. She’s married, but that wouldn’t stop some guys I know.

When Francine said, “Let’s meet in Conference Room A”, which was unoccupied at the time, I thought we were about to cross a line. We did, but the line we crossed was unexpected.

She whispered that the Boss had asked to see her in his office, and she needed to be sure she looked “correct”. Be brutal, she said, like on TV. Disappointed, I said she looked fine. She hiked her skirt, unbuttoned her blouse.

“Think this is too much?”

Maybe I shook my head.

She pulled off her shoes. “Do my feet smell?”

She sat on the conference table, raised her legs, and put her feet in my face. I said they smelled fine.

She gave me a peck on the cheek. “Thanks. Wait for me after work.”

She went off to face The Boss. I stayed in the Conference Room to cool down. This took a while.

The thing is, Francine’s feet did smell.

The rest of the workday was a total loss.

Francine waltzed into my cubicle after the whistle blew. “It worked!” she said. “I made vice-president. Thanks for giving me the confidence. Let’s have a drink to celebrate. My treat.”

At the bar, Francine put her hand on my knee, practically licked my ear, gave what I thought were significant looks. After a few martinis, I blurted out, “Why don’t we go to a motel or something?”

She looked at me as though I’d vomited.

“With you? But you’re a…”

For some reason, I confessed what’d gotten me so hot about her.

“Oh my god that’s so disgusting,” she said. “And now I gotta worry about foot odor on top of it.”

All I could do was pray that the stuffed shark hanging above our booth would fall on my head and kill me.

Francine said she wouldn’t pay for drinks after all. Instead, she was going to tell her husband what I’d said about her. He’s a pro wrestler or a bodyguard or something like that.

At least he won’t send mixed signals.

John D Robinson

Way Back When

I’d undo my school trousers,
she’d be wearing her short
school skirt and we’d find
some discreet place and let
our hands freely explore
one another: we barely
spoke: there was nothing
to say: our eyes screamed
as our innocence began
to melt, our fingers wet
with lust and something
we didn’t understand
but couldn’t stop: we’d
lean upon each other,
feeling guilty about
something we didn’t
know of, but we were
damned if that was
going to stop us.

Dave Cullern

Modern Shelves

Base lives
Based on lies
Disguise
Tiny moves
Amongst the forests
Of old gods

The words of
Dead generations
Carved
Into the wood
Like sigils
Flashed behind
The lids of our eyes

The force of legs
Forced to walk
Into fires
Made of printed words,
Alight behind stop signs
And directed turns
Without touch
Without loss
Without flames

Witch trials
Tried on lies
Try to hide
The hidden hooves of Pan
In amongst fat tomes
Of underwhelming prose
Underneath cages of thick clothes
And the grey,
The thick, constricting grey,
Sitting atop of the
Sucking
Fucking
Laughing
Violent
Truth.