fourth grade

I didn’t care that
Boy George
Looked like a girl
I wasn’t entirely sure
What a fag was
I just knew
That if I was a
Chameleon,

I’d come and go
I’d come and go


daniel romo (Grants Pass, OR, 1973)

snail in the rat trap

waited by the false ringing of some aluminum ears
played trombone with feet of porcelain
made tongue stroke many glasses
half asses played with little hand of clock
clicked back with chin straps and softening voices
believing was a fantasy meant
and a precious
looked

arriving in pickup truck black
bed emptied bottles, vacant memories
asking to be holy, as the white fly flits by right nostril
do I breathe like a rhinoceros
and you question me with words unanswered

how quaint it is to lie in this dim august light
how strange it is to pluck your selfish quaint moral
should I have not told a honey blossom lie
would a barbed wire hand adjunct pleasantly

she waves tears like molten fingers
rake my grave down by the lake
and place the ocean as some false sacrilege at sodden feet
words look like ketchup up a swollen asshole

warnings rave as steel fences beside punk police forces
dressed up nineties child feigning eighties indulgence in
a overindulgent sanctioned Americana landslide
I slide tongue deep up your inner thigh
passing curtain sheet willow tree
waving wet finger at the blower standing simple
clocking hours like a significant crime
raise flags with weeping shackled mourners
placating performers wait for the queen
yet the king stands hearty with a silver staff
a lie with a mirror for doubled eyes


matthew wedlock (Taunton, MA, 1984)

The Yale Series of Younger Poets, 2010 Competition

As from today, The Yale Series of Younger Poets is accepting submissions for the 2010 Competition. So yes, it is that time of the year again for young American poets out there to stop thinking about it and actually submit their best work for consideration at the oldest annual literary award in the United States, also one of the most prestigious given to new American poets.

Entries must be postmarked no earlier than October 1, 2009 and no later than November 15, 2009. The competition is open to any American citizen under forty years of age who has not published a book of poetry. Only one manuscript may be submitted each year, but manuscripts submitted in previous years may be resubmitted. Read the full competition rules here.

Postmark deadline: November 15, 2009

Entry fee: $15.00

Prize: Winning manuscript is published in the Yale Series of Younger Poets, author receives royalties when the book is published


Further reading:

The Yale Series of Younger Poets

Yale University Press