Credo By Howie Good

Issue 6

Sun on the horizon
letter from a yellow cherry blossom

I focus on that
which interests me

This world

the concretization
of these things
flying around me

a small largeness
like happiness

Source: Titles of films made by Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase

Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements, winner of the 2015 Press Americana Prize for Poetry. He co-edits White Knuckle Press with Dale Wisely.

Barnaby Tadpole is Just My Pen Name By Derek Owens

Issue 6

Hadley has never succumbed. Why Clayton that’s not true. You have friends up and down the corporate ladder. Come on snookums show us that knowing little smile of the insider.

The items with the little asterisks penciled alongside them are the ones I personally think are great. Evolution’s been good to you Sid.I don’t want any of this soft luggage. Show me some hard luggage.

He is shocked to discover the unavailability of blubber his favorite snack. He claims that at those points in time he was seeing Nicholas Nickleby. Why Austin you put on your happy face.

I for one don’t see how Herman Melville relates to our lifestyle. Pollution has robbed skin of its natural beauty. Thanks but there’s really nothing to do while the meat’s smoking. Let’s see a computer give you a haircut like that.

Well now how’s the old noggin today. Today I became corrupt absolutely. This is Meg everybody. She’s very interested in coal.

Frankly Mr. Dudley I find your wife’s cooking to be quite delicious. That’s one itchy trigger finger.Look all I’m asking is that we let market forces bring a greater degree of efficiency into our marriage. I’m an entirely self-taught nun.

I couldn’t hack it in L. A. I was too decontextualized. Nevermore. And you can quote me.

Do you think my decisions are too Draconian? When did you first notice you were larger than life? Would it disturb you if I sang without pants?

He says his ballads sing of the brotherhood of man with due regard for the stabilizing influence of the nobility. Will the gentleman want the salmon pauché with or without his initials?

Lately I’ve been getting into compassion. A.k.a. the no cholesterol dinner. The views expressed by the mayor do not necessarily reflect those of the inhabitants. I’m filled with acid rain.

And hey, thanks for the incandescence. Not your typical burrowing rodents, that’s for sure. Someday all this infrastructure will be yours sugarplum.

Miss Johnson will now pass out the moral blinders. And you call yourself a marsupial. The Second Amendment Gun Shop.

I’m not responsible for what you may or may not have seen on Love Boat ma’am. Of course Barnaby Tadpole is just my pen name.

 

Source: Cartoon captions from a stack of The New Yorker magazines, from the 1980s mostly.

Derek Owens directs the Institute for Writing Studies (New York). Information on his artwork, writing, and teaching can be found at derekowens.net.

*Note from the editors: We’re pleased to also showcase some of Derek’s artwork here on Unlost. Check it out!

The First Episode by Amber Moore

Issue 6

After a moment, slowly pull in.
The commotion is outside. This is
southern charm. Did you get a good
look? We never would have guessed what he was
up to, just moments before.

Head purposefully toward the
deep baritone, the crisp tuxedo with the
collar unfastened, no tie. This is
Richard III, a dog, and a teenage son all
wrapped up in one.

He looks up. He gently approaches us with endless
sympathy in his eyes. He has no patience for useless pain or
zipping up the back of a woman’s elegant evening gown. You too pull
back as the sound fades and cut back to flash a toothy smile and
sing along with the crowd.

We zoom in slowly, filling the frame with moody skies and
dexterous hands. The feeling should be ominous,
just a little, for the announcement. Make me wait.
Patience is a virtue and I’m not feeling very virtuous
tonight. You should wait by the door,
listen in with a bustling bull pen.

Source: Pilot Episode of House of Cards, Script found at: http://www.zen134237.zen.co.uk/House_of_Cards_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

Amber Moore is a former high school English teacher and current PhD Candidate in literacy education. Her work has been published in numerous journals and magazines including most recently, The Women’s Studies Quarterly, Room Magazine, and The Feathertale Review. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Lifespan Cancelled by Stephanie Ellis

Issue 6

Maybe you’re psychic
But your iron sight
Does not make you invisible

Imprisoned since childhood
You crouch, a lone wolf
In the forge of your shame

The clock is ticking
As locked in a killing frenzy
You create your own boneyard

A dangerous covenant
Of flesh wounds and dead morals
Disguising the zealot spawned

Your thunderstorm tears
From a pool of unlimited life
For you there is no absolution

 

Sources: Inserts from: XBOX 360 Hitman Absolution, XBOX 360 Borderlands2, XBOX 360 Bioshock Infinite, XBOX 360 Halo

Stephanie Ellis is a Teaching Assistant in a Southampton secondary school. Her poetry has been published in local and national press and online. She is a regular contributor to the online poetry sites, Visual Verse and VERStype as well as being a published horror short story writer.

Two Dudes by Daryl Muranaka

Issue 6

I wanna do a great American road trip
Take the car and drive away
Yeah, I got my bag
I’m re-evaluating my life
I don’t know how to get a non-science degree

That’s your fault.
You go in with a clean slate.
You got into a really bad deal.

I have good prospects
I want to sleep
Oh my God!
I’ve had like 3 or 4 cups of coffee
I have a grande chai latte.
I need it today.

What do you call it—
things that make you?
I know I didn’t look.  I didn’t see it.
It’s just that you’re inside

I don’t know, yeah, I feel like
pretty girls in t-shirts. It’s a little feminist.

It’s so stiff
He comes over sometimes
Yeah, yeah, tall white guy
He sued him

This kid was supposed to be my best friend
I’ve never missed a payment in my life

It’s a basic thing–you pay the rent.
Obviously this building looks different
from what we saw half an hour ago
We don’t actually have to go through the building.
You need to be living in some shitty apartment
You owe it.

That’s what I’m pissed about
Besides that, everything is going great
Still in Cambridge
It was about 10 degrees.  10. 10 degrees. 10 degrees.

I just mentioned it.
Chelsea is a dangerous city
It’s a hot bed for drugs
cinco ocho

Hit me up sometime, bro

Okay, thank you so much for calling. Awesome.
Source: cut-up of conversations heard in Cambridge, MA 2015

Daryl Muranaka lives in Boston with his family. In his spare time, he enjoys aikido and taijiquan and exploring his children’s dual heritages. His first book, Hanami, was published by Aldrich Press and his first chapbook, The Minstrel of Belmont, was published Finishing Line Press in 2015.