By Anonymous “This just in,” the news reports “Renny Miles shot 25 times.” While watching this, I want to abort “Fifteen years ago, he was a man of many crimes.” They display his mugshot when he was 16 I know him, our church deacon Super kind man, lovable, never mean He helped everywhere he could. A true light beacon Further reports indicate He was out for an 8pm stroll He just needed some air before he met his fate From his mate this is what was told The police felt he fit the description He’s black, tall, fit He posed no infliction It always happens and the police will acquit …
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A Collection of Poems
By Brennon Land Not an Immigrant (2020) Stripped Of the land The language The memory of my people. Four hundred years of genocide And still my darkness survives. Though your words roll off my tongue Your clothes don’t fit my form. To you I am a ‘well-spoken. ‘Literate yet uncouth Unforgivably proud Irredeemably Savage. Love Offerings (2020) Late season sweet peas Plump and cold In a wooden bowl Smelling of green And frosty air Regret (2020) Regret is waiting For an opportunity That will never come Regret is a life That was never truly lived For no good reason Regret is the name Never called to your lover To stop…
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Arboretum
By Brennon Land (2020) Roots stay shallow In earth poisoned By blood Mingled with the iron And the lead And the hate That put it there Roots stay shallow In earth salted By sweat and tears Savagely distilled From ‘savage’ bodies Stolen and displaced To lands stolen In the name of God The Civilized Whose mercy blesses Pilgrims Evangelists Intrepid Settlers Slaying old gods And their children alike Roots stay shallow In earth glutted On strange fruits Stolen and scorned By the same hands That left bruises Easily hidden Beneath dark skin So that eyes Blind to color See no injury And mouths that feed From broken flesh Teeth freshly…
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DA
By Shanice Lawton She dreams of you every night, Your smile still lights up her heart, She still speaks of you as if you will walk into the room, Your nephew is the spitting image of you he even has your humor, The picture that hangs in my office is my favorite one of you, When she smiles I see the tears she holds back, She tries to be strong but I know at night she still cries, Your birthday is in two weeks and every year she goes silent on that day, We tell her how much we love her every chance we get, You were worried she would…
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Dear Covid
By Roman Dial Dear COVID, You are simply so random that I don’t know where to start. Maybe at the beginning in December ‘19 when I got deathly ill after the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco with its 25,000 attendees mixing and breathing all that recycled air where it seemed that one in ten conference-goers came from China? That sickness put me and Peggy in bed for a week. Or when you spoiled my book release hopes and dreams? How about when you threatened to crash my field-work plans? Or forced me to teach online? Which I hoped I’d never have to do over my 30-year career. Since…
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Dear Covid
By Annette Rearden Dear COVID- 2020 gave me something much scarier than you. Funny thing this is, I manage to beat you both. Signed,Vaccinated AND in remission
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Dear Covid
By Deb Codding Dear Covid, The news calls you a PANDEMIC – I call you a PAN-DAMN-IC. I had just started to recover from a heart attack on Christmas Eve, December 2019 when you reared your ugly head. Well nanny-nanny-boo-boo — try as you might you DID NOT catch me and I DID NOT catch you! Of course, that didn’t stop you from wreaking havoc in my life. My 40-year-old daughter got sick just about the time the doctors went to virtual appointments. You know the kind you caused where the doctors don’t want to see you in person and you just talk into the computer describe your symptoms. She…
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Dear Covid
By Joe Sarcone Dear Covid, You’re on us like a bad rash. Go scratch yourself. Sincerely, joe
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An Ode to John Doe
By Maya Mossanen To whom it may concern, My name is Jake Mosley, and I think I am a great fit for your school because….because….well.Maybe I’ll start by telling you a little about myself. I’m from Jefferson Ohio, birthplace of the great State senator Benjamin Franklin wade. Not to be confused with Benjamin Franklin the founding father… I don’t think anyone that important has come out of Jefferson Ohio and I don’tthink that’s changing anytime soon. You can’t add that, you are supposed to convince them that you are the next great thing to come out of Jefferson Ohio, but counselor Addams also said I can’t lie in a college…
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Dear Covid
By Rosanne Pagano Dear Covid – As if. As if there’s anything dear about a plague. Unless you mean “dear” as in purchased at great price, “dear” as in the un-totalable toll in hours of lives lost, days of playground laughter stolen, weeks of paychecks delayed then smithereened by seething politics. Dear indeed. Once when I was new to journalism, eager to succeed but too green to strategize ambition, a convicted murderer serving a couple of life sentences in a federal prison happened to call the newsroom where I worked. I didn’t know then but it seems that this particular killer called the paper regularly, always on a Saturday afternoon:…
