Friday, November 26, 2010

Frida Kahlo - Melanie Browne


Today, some
Vines grew
from my 
chest,
thorns wrapped
themselves
around my neck, 
bloody arrows
lanced my 
heart and

my spine
became a
broken column,

but,

you should
have seen
me yesterday

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Craigslist>Personals>Missed Connections - Melanie Browne

I was sitting across from you
at the Beaumont Shoney's
we made eye contact,
you must have been hungry
because you cleaned your plate,
I really like the way
you eat your chicken fried steak,
I heard you singing
that new Enrique Iglesias song
as you were leaving,
I like that song too,
it's weird how Its been stuck in
my head for days,
you looked nice in 
your too tight levi's
let's meet somewhere 
for coffee or maybe back
at Shoneys,
My Boyfriend's on vacation, 
and he doesn't need to know

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

faint as sledge hammers -steve calamars

my good looks bring
cold stares from
hot tempered women
with frozen hearts
and smoking bodies

their mind games feel
less like brain teasers
and more like blood sports
with the bruised egos and
broken hearts

so out of necessity
i keep my guard up
and my pain threshold
even higher

till these women are
reduced to practically
pole-vaulting over my
defenses to hurt me
with their love

and i'm able to counter
with ghost-written words
that create phantom pains
faint as sledge hammers

that simultaneously
shatters their confidence
and splits
their personality . . .


(featured in
issue #3)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Jim Took It -Mike Meraz

we never thought
he would do it
but it was just
sitting there
with the key inside.

all those nightmare
years of past
could be taken
care of in one instant.

he was taking out the trash
when low and behold a
2009 Lexus SUV lay idle
on the side of the street.

the man who owned it
had gone in the store
for a minute
but when he came back
it was gone.

all the store employees
said, "Jim took it."

and everyone
laughed in unison
as if a great trick
had been played on
the devil himself

or the fates had
finally done right.

he punched the accelerator
for the I-10,
lit a cigarette,

he was gone...