Exploring the Universe by Howie Good

Issue 13

Do I believe the Earth
is shaped like a Frisbee?
I believe it is.
Do I know for sure?
No.

I’m not a robot.
I’m just a guy looking around.
It’ll kill you.
It’ll scald you to death.
It’ll blow the skin
and muscle off your bones.
I’ll feel it in the morning.

At least I can go home
and have dinner
and see my cats tonight.

Source: npr.org, One Giant Leap for a Man One Small Step Toward Proving the Earth is a Frisbee, March 26th, 2018

Howie Good is the author of The Loser’s Guide to Street Fighting, winner of the 2017 Lorien Prize from Thoughtcrime Press, and Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements, winner of the 2015 Press Americana Prize for Poetry. 

Epitaph by Howie Good

Issue 11

We have not
had a wedding
or a baptism
for quite some time.
We mostly
have funerals.
Even when
you ride the train,
all you see is
this black forest
with nothing in it –
bread, but no butter.

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/world/europe/russia-population-changes.html

Howie Good is the author of The Loser’s Guide to Street Fighting, winner of the 2017 Lorien Prize for Poetry from Thoughtcrime Press, and Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements, winner of the 2015 Press Americana Prize for Poetry. He co-edits White Knuckle Press with Dale Wisely.

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.

The Big Lie in a Small Place By Howie Good

Issue 7

1
Some of them disappeared.
Now, people don’t remember,

and sometimes I think they don’t
even understand where they are
and what the places are about.

How do we sleep when the planet is melting?

2
I think it must be
like a church.

If you want to pray
for the souls of all

the people who are
in the ground in this place,

then come. And
sometimes it works.

3
This is not the last time
you’ll be able to eat.
It just looks like that,
when you stay outside
and observe people.

4
I can’t be in this place.
The tourists are looking
at things like they are
from another world.
“Ah,” they say, “interesting.”
It means that Goebbels won.

 

Source: Assembled from “Sergei Loznitsa’s Movie ‘Austerlitz’ Observes Tourists in Concentration Camps,” New York Times, Aug. 31, 2016.

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.

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.