my dearest libby

My dearest Libby
Is the type of poem
With a first verse
Just like the title line

My dearest Libby
Was my sex partner
For two years
In college

My dearest Libby
Got into drugs
Turned into a film-ready junkie
Sucked cock for coke

Once she offered to bring along
Her girlfriend
For a threesome
I said no

Being a junkie myself
I had nothing to offer
Sex just isn’t that interesting
After riding wild horses

I wish I could go back in time
And tell her: My dearest Libby
I wrote this poem for you
Title and first verse are the same

I’m not a great poet
But I love you so much I don’t care
I want you to be my girlfriend
Like, for reals

My dearest Libby


ron kenan (Colchester, VT, 1972)

counting money (a sonnet)

Work ends, the paymaster gives what is owed
The worker is left to count his money
Mail comes from the bank that I must decode
Bills come together: today is rainy
Seems there is never quite enough in there
The taxman takes his cut before I do
Everyone wants to take, God, is this fair?
Something left for me is long-overdue
Counting does not make the bank account grow
Counting does not make the creditors leave
It only tells us to sacrifice so
Next month we can spend less than we receive
When I count I see that I will survive
With care, I think that I will even thrive


michael david jay (Hutchinson, KS, 1976)

when we were kids, mom was marriedand dad was a hero

drawn sand strand anew
the backseat full and sticky
covered with two towels
burning plastic and coconut

dwell in peace, slow motion,
everybody up and running
yet another beach
late ping-pong hours

mom was always cooking
dad was always fixing the car
he didn't let us in with sand covered feet
we did our best to clean

mom was always cooking
she didn't let us burn
and pulled her cotton wrapped finger,
iodated touch, hideous trick

all healed and cured
she always seemed so happy
fixing sandwiches, spreading sun block
she seemed but wasn't

summer was two weeks of ping-pong,
tool handling, cleaning after
dad could fix everything
mom loved him and all of us

mom could fix an itchy throat
yet another beach
and they went for a walk
and we all seemed so happy

we did our best not to bring the sand in
clean after ourselves
we did our very best
all of us


paul betbeder (Washington, DC, 1978)

loveloops

below my chest lies concrete
a scarf half stolen bears resemblance
the crisp memory of a narrow street
you and me wishing for a ride home
elbows, neck, are all the same
expect no delays as I've said it all
won't come back for a negative answer
I won't ask what I already know
though bear in mind
love is persistent, weather resistant, geographically challenged
and curiously circular
in long unexpected returns
back to the very beginning
starting all over again from nowhere


michael s. lebon (Baltimore, MD, 1974)

maura

Mauragreeneyes
Why can't you realize?
Just what you have done to me.

Opengreeneyes
Maybe you'll realize
What you've done if you can see.

Mauraclosedeyes
Mauranoeyes
Maura tell lies
and I realize

Maurablindeyes
Zac-of-blackeyes
Giving rise
To your demise.

Mauraweteyes
You don't realize
When he's gone you won't have me.


claire audrey gallagher (Fresno, CA, 1991)

the world's worst day

say one day a giant thumb
hovers over covers the sky
crushes you
with no mercy

well that's what happened to the bug
crawling on my wall today
now a barely noticeable stain
against the already stained wall

outside it pours
inside it leaks
constant drilling
this surely looks like the world's worst day

not for the bug
cause she is not among us anymore
(yes, it was a she, I can attest)
I mean, for me, the world's worst day

overcast weather makes elmo sad
a giant thumb in the sky crushing everybody
thin spiky rain, no mercy
another bug crawls and I'm on my way to the bus stop


eddie modernell (Ann Arbor, MI, 1984)

ugly

your mother is ugly
your dog is ugly
your socks are ugly
your mortgage down payments are ugly
your father is ugly
your computer is ugly
your bed linen is ugly
your cell phone is ugly
your best dress is ugly
your photo smile is ugly
your useless overeducation is ugly
your disney collectibles are ugly
your dvds are ugly
your raincoat is ugly
your tylenol addiction is ugly
your petty shoplifting at wal mart is ugly
your fake complexity is ugly
your secrets are ugly
your underwear is ugly
your bike is ugly
your anaphoras are ugly

in case of an emergency do not exit the car unless instructed to do so


amy london (Bushnell, AZ, 1972)