-
“The Optimist” by Raquel Melody Guarino
I packed my bag upstuffed it fullSeams burstingas Itryto pullzipand pushdown the pileto make it easier tocarry
it doesn’t matter what you putas long as you can bear itwithout their help
you may limp or even tripbut you brought those bagsyou brought them for a reason
you will pull those bags up the stairs
one by one.
-
Four Poems by Andrea Jurjević Artwork by Kirstin Mitchell
She Floated Away
After Hüsker DüA mob of slam dancers hurls and shoves in the mosh pit of the park fountain—all this furor, thrust-riot, all this outage, the ridding
of the white corset. Under the cankered poplar a man rests his stiff leg across his lover’s knees, leans into her narrow shoulder and scratches a rough scratch in the V of her thighs—
the axis of her body, black as the tail of a swallow, forked as a dowsing rod.
Yet her gaze is fixed on the fountain,
-
Two Poems by Martin Rock
Lines Written After a Party in New York
It isn’t sarcasm or sadness but the feeling
of having been left to die in the middle
of a rooftop filled with one’s attractive friends.
They look at me and I try to look at them.
My eyes remain fixed on the side of my head.
My tongue is a fist submerged in ice.
I try to make my way back to the surface
to bleat but I cannot. My eyes are glassy
& probing & panicky & -
“The Lake” (parts 1 to 3 of Dead Letter Office) and “After Objects” by Marko Pogačar (translated from the Croatian by Andrea Jurjević) Photography by Dora Held
Dead Letter Office is forthcoming in March 2020 by The Word Works.
The Lake
Again that tragic
Mixing up of things and folks.
— Novica Tadić1.
I am the lake, I set out
in the morning from the slow cocoon of the sun—
sink into myself as if into a silent room or despair.
plants nest in my chest
like wading birds nest in shrubs,
the eternal choir of grass blades. -
Two Poems by Lisa Boyce
Feathers and Silk
it used to be your chest was my pillow
temporarily of course – always temporarily –
you needed more space
said you couldn’t fall asleep
sweaty limbs tangled like sheets
while I – girl who sweats
through her shirts
when it’s 30 degrees out
– wanted
onlytobecloser
devised a way to get nearer to your heart
dreamed of cracking open your chest
so I could crawl inside
be at the center of it all
sometimes if I squeeze my eyes tight enough
the pillow I am holding
becomes your chest
– but softer –
it does not smell like you
– roast chicken and orchids –
I burrow deeper
-
“Long Vacation” by Jake Bauer
I am a person in need of a very
long vacation to a very cold climate.
There, one can ski out onto
the ice which is actually
a frozen-over cup of water
waiting on the nightstand
of a thief after a quick job. A boy
had to die. The world is big
then it is diamond-small
and you slip it in your pocket
on your way out the door, thinking
I’ll need this later.*
Jake Bauer is the Marketing Director for Saturnalia Books.
