Month: March 2017

Wolves By Natalie Malesa

Issue 8

a restoration of bile
children were recruited for the other
we served the historical blood

unexplained signs were recorded
deviations performed for survival

mean months
mean months
first recurrence
one died

our episodes offer protection in more recent years

nevertheless, the effect is still controversial

it traverses the entire population
by multifarious mechanisms

blood is the conduit
the fluid of the future


Source:  Bu, Ling-Nan, et al.  “Prophylactic Oral Antibiotics in Prevention of Recurrent Cholangitis After the Kasai Portoenterostomy.”  Journal of Pediatric Surgery, vol. 38, no. 4, 2003, pp. 590-3.

Method: This is an erasure. Words are included from each paragraph of the article and presented in the order in which they appeared.

Natalia Malesa is a Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at the University of Texas at Austin.  She has degrees in both English and Information Science and previously worked as a youth librarian.  Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Enigmatist, Haiku Journal, and Window Cat Press.  Her writing often melds her humanities and science backgrounds.

Visible Cities By Michael Prihoda

Issue 8

i.
leaving
streets golden,

this evening
growing from envy

ii.
wild desire
for a city

where
hesitating

encounters
brawls.

the city
of difference,

the dreamed-of man
seated in memories.

iii.
vain bastions,
the streets like scales.
the same relationships
between the distance
of swaying feet
and a firing gunboat.
the hundredth story
of illegitimate memories.
the city, a sponge, expands
a description of its past,
written in windows,
banisters, antennae, flags,
scratches, scrolls.

 

Source: Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Michael Prihoda is a poet and artist living in the Midwest. He is founding editor of After the Pause and his work can be found in various journals in print and around the web. He loves llamas and the moments life makes him smile.

Destruction and Repair by Erin Marie Hall

Artwork

 

Source: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, entries on Bipolar Disorder & Cyclothymia
Method: My source text being the DSM-V, I selected words and phrases from relevant diagnostic criteria and symptom descriptions that allowed me to explore the disorders that have caused significant disruption in my life, the havoc they wreaked, and the potential for healing in their wake. I maintained a very literal voice, as the process of describing mental health issues is one that requires intense vulnerability.
Erin Marie Hall is a poet and collage artist from South Bend, Indiana. She received her BA in English from Indiana University and spends her free time doing karaoke and going through way too much Mod Podge.

Almost Love Poem By Marjorie Thomsen

Issue 8

The more realistic
flavors of love:
bitter and sweet.
It seems
to be asking
for a little
alteration,
for the addition
of this
or the removal
of that. I try to stay
attentive
to this. I love
the long, twisted
red leaves
of some varieties.
A woman
came up to me
and said:
“I’ve got a tree
full of quinces
in my garden
but I don’t do anything
with them. I am scared
of quince.”
keep the skin
a good grind
just gamble
serve at once
serve at once
serve at once


Source: YotamOttolenghi, “Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi”, 2011.

Method: I had never written a found poem and wanted to try something different. I took what I had sitting closest to me in the kitchen where I write and went from there—a cookbook, a recently purchased coffee-table book that I had been reading, a new plant with its directions on how to care for it, and a love letter on my computer from a friend. Voila.

Marjorie Thomsen’s poetry collection, “Pretty Things Please” (Turning Point, 2016), gets its title from asking Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project to name all that she cannot since they come up with great names for their beers. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Thomsen’s poems have received awards from the New England Poetry Club and The University of Iowa School of Social Work. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A Golden Age By Howie Good

Issue 8

I dreamed I was a book. It’s like deciding
to be a samurai or a dandy: you’re in
for a miserable end, but one you’ll be
able to face with honor. The missing letters
are missing so that, no matter what you
think they are, you can never be quite certain.
Have you ever wondered is Florida real?
That’s not going to change. That stays
the same. There are no real gatekeepers.
And no mission. I was influenced by everything.
We’re living in a golden age. It’s about time.


Source: Quotes from small press editors at entropymag.org

Howie Good is the author of Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements, winner of the 2015 Press Americana Prize. His latest book is A Ghost Sings, a Door Opens  from Another New Calligraphy. He co-edits White Knuckle Press with Dale Wisely.

March 1st by Carol McMahon

Issue 8

Anthony, Katherine, Jane, Tsai, Susan, David, Ruth, Henry, Carl, Graydon, Lidia, Rosemarie, Aleyah, Richard, Daisy, Todd, Barbara, Harvey, Louis, Vincente, Anita, Douglas, Esther, Thomas, Jeremy, Catherine, Harvey, Alessandro, Janice, Anderson, Bertoni, Burbank, Sagneri, Van Duser, Wirschem, Bruman, Chamberlin, Askin, Clemens, Bentley, D’Andrea, Curran, Degus, Farina, Hasto, Napolitano, Schrader, Rosenbaum, Soong, McConachie, McElwin, Sundquist, Swift-Meyers, White, Wirschem, Spear, Reisman, suddenly, after a lengthy illness, after a short illness, after a courageous battle, at home, his home, in the hospital, surrounded by, survived by, predeceased by, loving husband, devoted wife, partner, fiancée, mother, father, son, daughter, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, children, stepson, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings, sisters, brothers, a multitude of friends, faithful companion, beloved dog, studied history & education, a lifelong communicant, enjoyed travel, flew planes, a doctor of medicine, loved bridge, graduated from, adjunct professor, skilled craftsman, jazz/rock musician, talented visual artist, avid researcher, Ph.D. in aeronautics, a member of, retired from, will be truly missed, in our hearts, an inspiration, a shining example, with gratitude, to share a memory, send a condolence, light a candle, sign the online registry, memorial service, funeral mass, friends may call, interment at, arrangements entrusted to, visitation for, burial at, private service, no service, entombment private, celebrated, Holy Cross Church, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, Sacred Heart, St. John Lutheran Church, First Bible Baptist Church, Hope Church, White Haven Memorial Park, United Church of Christ, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations, charity of your choice, Open Door Mission, Alzheimer’s Association, Arthritis Foundation, American Cancer Society, Disabled Veterans, Wounded Warriors, Humane Society, AIDS Care, Breast Cancer Coalition, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Golisano Children’s Hospital, March of Dimes Foundation, Salvation Army, National Kidney Association, National Liver Association, St. Andrews Food Cupboard, peacefully, in peace, peacefully and quietly, passed away, and died.

 

Source: Obituary section of the March 1, 2015 edition of the Rochester, New York Democrat & Chronicle newspaper.

 

The Method: The names (both first and last) as well as the phraseology, cause of death,  and funeral arrangements etc. were all taken from one day of newspaper obituaries and randomly rearranged in the order of a single obituary.  The layout is designed to mirror the columns of a newspaper. My intent is that the effect of reading the poem will be a perception of the vastness and all-encompassing nature of life’s impermanence as well as an awareness of the ways in which our lives are but mirrors of the lives of our fellow humans.

 

Carol McMahon is the author of a chapbook, On Any Given Day (FootHills Publishing, 2006). She has been published in Prodigal, IthacaLit, Blue Collar Review, Lake Affect Magazine, and elsewhere. McMahon holds an MFA in Poetry from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and currently resides in Rochester, New York.