The Bicycle Review # 32

15 February, 2016
Original Artworks by Robert Bowen and Sandra Yagi.
Poetry and Prose by AN Block, Pris Campbell, Valentina Cano, Neeli Cherkovski, Paul Corman-Roberts, Doug
Draime, Mitchell Grabois, Rachel Head, David E. Howerton, Theresa Griffin Kennedy, Thomas Larsen, Martin
H. Levinson, Upendra Maddineni, Colleen McKee, Richard King Perkins, A.D. Winans, and Edward C. Wells III

Published by the Pedestrian Press on 15 February, 2016. All works are the property of
the authors and artists and may not be reproduced without their expressed
permission.

Bicycle Review # 32
Welcome back, cyclists! It's been a long and fruitful year in which we've started a whole other, more
localand less expensivemagazine here in Oakland called, appropriately: Oakland Review. It's
actually been fun doing something much easier for a while before coming back to this world of high
art and finance, hehheh.
Doing this journal is a lot of work, and though Rhea and Robert have made important contributions
(as well as others, such as Michael McCormick and Lynn Hayes, have helped me out during different
periods) most of the execution, and nearly all of the reading and fielding of submissions have been my
job for most of the 7 years I've been publishing BR.
Not anymore. Through the Creative Writing department at SFSU, we've hooked up with intern staff
members who have made this overwhelming amount of reading a lot easier. This issue we were
assisted by Anna Mahrer, who did a great job helping me get through what has become quite a
mountain of words over time.
It is nice to be back on the bike after a whole fourteen months of hiatus. I bitch and moan, but this has
actually become so much bigger than me that it gets kind of scary at times.
As promised in issue 30, we are going to be abandoning (continuing to abandon?) the old "editor's
note" trope in favor of conversational interviews like the one we did with A. Razor to kick off issue
#31. After such a long time, though, I felt it would be a little rude not to say hi.
This issue is so crazy good that to name just a few people would be unfair. Just read it and look at it,
and you'll see. I'll shut up now.
Share the Road,
J de Salvo

INVISIBLE SAFETY NETS

Ill forgive you when you admit you were never going to pick up my call; when you admit you were
intentionally sticking your head only half way inside the oven; when you admit that you lied to a
man who had broken your heart again that you werent really 5150, you were just really fucking
high.
Not that you HADNT just swallowed a handful of Xanax and Klonopin chased with a couple of shots
of Bulleit, I mean hell, youve been riding that sled for years dear; Emeryville PD made sure that
detail was correct because the next three weeks wouldnt have happened if they hadnt.
In turn I will shamelessly admit that yes, it occurred to me you could take it. It occurred to me you
told the heartbreaker you were offing yourself because you were sure it would break his heart
because it would make him call you later to make sure you were okay, because it would make him
kinda care in the way that no one else cared because they couldnt keep going down this road with
you, never mind that he is the same kind of ambitious, cynical alcoholic you are, the same kind of
jaded striver who is just one blow job away from the cultural lottery and because of that, you never
imagined that he was actually a person of substance and caring underneath that, that he would
really sound the alarm; that a suicide safety net actually had been laid out beneath your ledge, and
that once activated, there will be no turning it off.
You know that they are going to put safety nets underneath the Golden Gate Bridge now. There
will be no way to have that direct line of sight from the railing straight down to the water.
You know eventually, there is going to be that first person to try it anyway, thinking they can
somehow jump far enough out over the net, or that the wind will catch them and they will fly to
oblivion. But in fact, they will simply then become the first person to get caught in Golden Gate
Bridge safety net.
Can you imagine how that is going to feel? Laying prone and essentially unable to move in the
netting; no doubt bouncing up and down in the shrieking Golden Gate winds beneath the hungry
lapping currents below, waiting to be hauled up like catch from a fishing trawler .
Yes, I imagine you would know how that first jumper is going to feel. Ill forgive you when you
admit you jumped without looking for the net.

Copyright 2016 by Paul Corman-Roberts

3 Pickles: Sour, Half Sour, Dill

1.
sour as your grandmas
most cherished resentment
2.
crisp as the day you were born
from a brine of your ancestors tears
3.
this ones emerald
seed to skin
chew through it
a tunnel
back to your childhood

Copyright 2016 by Colleen McKee

Getting Fucked on the Way to Reno; 1985

I hadn't been unfaithful to Rodger and I didn't want to be unfaithful. I wanted our marriage to work,
or so I thought. We had just begun talking about the child we might have. Though I had just started
taking classes at Portland State University, we were making plans. But I wasn't sure I was marriage
material and felt particularly frustrated because Rodger didn't want to talk about it. He only wanted
to gamble and chase the tempting buffet coupons. We were after all, on a vacation so we had to
stick to the tour bus itinerary.
Roger left me in the front of the casino; in the stark sunlight and walked back in, alone. I'll be over by
the dollar slot machines. You'll find me. I nodded my head and didn't answer. I was pissed off
because after ten months of marriage, we didn't have sex much anymore. The sex we did have
generally wasn't satisfactory, as he rarely took the time to make me come. But I still enjoyed the
process of getting naked and laying down with him.
I looked around, standing just outside the casino doors, and couldn't believe where they had taken us.
It was another dump, with stained carpets, sticky chairs and grimy, smoke tinged mirrors. I walked
over and sat on the large concrete bench out front, feeling the crisp air and sunlight on my face. I
shivered in the cold, rather than go back inside the run down establishment. After twenty minutes of
freezing in the cold, I realized I'd have to go find him. Club Cal Neva was one of the most popular
casinos in Reno and located right in the center of the downtown area on East Second Street. It was
known mostly for its cheap buffets, which were crammed full of starchy foods like potatoes, rolls,
corn bread, and chicken and noodle dishesand its numerous bars. It was also known for serving
drinkers well past the danger zone. Only after customers began sliding off the bar stools, murmuring
into their drink and either laughing quietly or weeping, did the bartenders suggest someone call a
cab.
I made my way around a large stone flower pot and walked toward the casino. I remember walking in
and not knowing where I was. The colored lights were so numerous and bright I became disoriented.
I looked over to the nickel and quarter machines and tried to locate him but there were too many
people and so much noise I started to panic. I was nineteen but Roger was forty four and an old hand
at Reno. I resented him for his easy confidence and aplomb. I stood by a huge support column covered
in mirrors adorned with dirty hand prints and started feeling that lost feeling that reminded me of
being a small child. I had to get out of this room. It was dizzying. A disco ball loomed overhead near a
grimy window, and added to the distraction and surreality. Noticing it startled me and I stood
watching it, mesmerized, until a tall pit boss with a ginger crew-cut walked by and eyed me like I was
crazy. Im just looking around, I said in a small voice. He ignored me. I blinked and looked down,
trying to focus on the task of finding Rodger.
I walked around the center slots, weaving my way around, looking for him. I noticed, for the first time
there were no clocks and absolutely no way to tell what time it was, unless you were wearing a watch.
This I later learned was a deliberate tactic. No casino would have a clock, in either Reno, or Vegas,
during any of our many trips. Why remind people they missed dinner or that dentist appointment
with a clock on the wall, when they could be making the casino money?
After scanning the room and telling myself to slow down, I located him in the back, over by a
restroom. I sighed, relieved and walked over, touching his shoulder silently and offering a small smile.
He looked up with a question on his face, then a grateful grin. He was winning, which was rare.

The pit boss with the ginger crew cut approached. She's not legal, is she? Rodger stood up. Well,
we're married, so technically I'm her legal guardian. The manager said there wouldn't be a problem,
when I spoke with him earlier. The pit boss was unconvinced, I'll need to see both your ID's, please.
He rocked back on his heels, and looked down his nose, superior, hostile. Rodger fished out his ID and
I did the same, defiant and slightly embarrassed, as I handed over the card. The pit boss looked at both
cards, glancing over at my cleavage suspiciously, as if he might find a hidden object in between my
breasts. Well, okay but she's not allowed to drink any alcohol. Then a slight pause. By the way,
good for you, buddy. He winked at Rodger and slapped him on the back, as he turned around,
heading in the opposite direction. A joke. Some good natured ribbing. Rodger had some of that
young stuff the men seemed to like so much. Rodger looked over at me and smiled indulgently.
You sure do attract attention sometimes. He sat back down and patted the chair beside him. I took a
breath and exhaled deeply and sat down next to him. I watched him feed the machine, remembering
the day before and forgetting the momentary drama of being carded by a powe rful looking pit boss
who looked like a football linebacker.
It was 1985 and I'd just been recently married. I hated going on the bus junkets to Reno with Rodger.
He always thought this time he'd be the big winner, but it never happened. I also I hated the man
who sat in front of us on the bus ride down and all the old people, in their sixties and seventies who
peered at me curiously wondering why my white skirt was so tight and why I always touched up my
pink frost lipstick or brushed my long, auburn hair with the large bright red comb I carried in my
oversize purse.
The old man, Baldie I had called him, when I later made fun of him, wanted to know all about us.
Where were we from. When did we get married. Where in Portland did we live, SE or SW. He creeped
me out when he turned around regularly to think of some new thing to talk about and especially
when he looked over at me dreamily and the way he always referred to us as the newlyweds. He
would lick his lips suggestively, as he looked over at me, ignoring Rodger, who was oblivious to the
fact that a man his age might find me attractive. The old man made me want to hit him, or viciously
shoulder him accidentally and watch him fall to the ground, his face crumpled up in pain, moaning
for his wife. Her name would be something stupid and antediluvian like Betty, or Myrtle, Blanche or
Bertha.
Are you and your friend...? Well, I see a wedding ring, so, you must be married!
Yes, we're married.
How old are you? You look very young.
I'm nineteen. I'll be turning twenty soon, though.
Oh, so you're newlyweds, then? The look on his face became dreamy. I imagined he was holding his
erect penis in his hand and stroking it up and down, while we spoke, with his long suffering, half-wit
wife sitting next to him thinking, Oh God, there he is, masturbating in public again! I could see she
was short and thin, with ancient looking skin and that she looked at least twenty years older than he
did. She was sitting by the window and when she finally spoke, her voice was thin and disappointed.
Who are you talking to now? Eric, would you leave that couple alone? I considered the name Eric
and felt surprise. It seemed like such a young name and didn't fit the old man's face or bald head. I'm
only talking to the newlyweds he intoned with mocking indifference. I wondered how many times
he'd cheated on his wife.
8

I glanced over at Rodger and saw he was sleeping beside me, snoring into my left shoulder,
unconscious. Because he was asleep, I turned back to the man and deliberately glared. I grimaced my
mouth dramatically in an ugly way, turning my mouth up on the right and down on the left, thinking
it made me look dangerous and intense. This only thrilled Eric and he widened his eyes and took it
all in with an elated smile. It was a form of intimacy. A secret communication, only between us and he
loved that. Now, I knew he'd cheated on his wife. Well, well young lady! He whispered the words so
his wife wouldn't hear. Youre a naughty girl, aren't you? He turned around, pretending to be
offended, facing the front of the bus but turned back twice to look at me and lick his lips, the shocked,
mocking look still on his face. I noticed his breathing had quickened and stuck my book in my face.
I began to wonder if his penis was big or small or if he could make a woman come. Somehow I knew he
could and he started to look less old and more like a man. I imagined what he looked like as a young
man. I could tell, by the planes of his face that he'd once been handsome and his smug confidence
confirmed that hed been sought after by the opposite sex. When he turned back around to look at me,
and mock me with his knowing expression, I slowly licked my lips. My tongue, bubble gum pink, slid
over the deep pink of the lipstick I'd recently applied in a thick layer. My eyes were narrow slits of
hate as I slid my tongue back and forth under my front teeth, like how I'd seen prostitutes do on TV
cop shows. His face blanched then, his smile fell and he turned around and didn't look back. I felt
furious and my stomach started to heat up with adrenalin.
The bus stopped in a tiny one horse town, somewhere past the California border, which turned out to
be a spot where inspectors from the agricultural Inspection Station, or Bug Station were routinely
called to check tour buses. In order that the California Border Protection inspectors could check the
bus for fruit which might be carrying invasive species with it, the bus had to stop. I watched the
driver grumble under his breath, before he opened the door to give the inspectors a friendly greeting.
He got out of his seat and turned in the aisle, saying loudly Fruit inspectors. Open your carry-on
bags, please! They would have to check the bags for oranges or other fruit contraband to make
certain we werent smuggling in fruit contaminated with bugs that might endanger the precious
California crops, destined to become orange juice.
I watched, interested, as two inspectors boarded the bus. The younger man walked down the aisle
first, looking from left to right, checking bags. Do you have any oranges, or other fruit? He seemed
bored and perhaps even hung over as he looked in bags and small suitcases. Most of the old people
murmured that they didn't have any fruit. No one had any secreted oranges from Portland hidden in
their underwear or pajamas. The inspector stopped in front of a skinny old man with a hunched over
spine sitting near the front of the bus. The old man was dressed in a heavy red and white plaid coat
that hung on him like a tent.
What is that in your lap, sir?
Its my sack lunch! The man was indignant.
Is that a banana I see?
Why, yes, it is. I was gonna eat it!
Sir, you're gonna to have to surrender your banana.

A barely perceptible twitter arose from the assembled men and women on the bus.
I was just gonna eat the damn thing. This is ridiculous!
Sir, I apologize for the inconvenience but you are not allowed to bring potentially contaminated fruit
into the state of California. You'll have to surrender the banana.
The old man grabbed the unripe banana and thrust it at the inspector furiously.
Well, then YOU eat the damn thing! I just saved ya two bits!
Thank you, sir, the inspector said wearily. He stuffed the banana into a clear plastic bag that
contained two oranges and proceeded down the aisle. He ambled down to our seat and looked in my
new white leather purse, as I held it open. Only lipstick and other junk, I offered in the high voice I
used if I thought I was in trouble or wanted to charm a man into liking me. He was about thirty five,
tall and robust. His face was weathered and lined and had a nice persimmon color. His teeth were
white and straight when he smiled.
He looked down at the cleavage visible from my peach V neck sweater and smiled approvingly, with a
slight nod of his head, like my tits had just passed a test. Not huge melons but big enough for a
mouthful. I smiled up at him, my eyes revealing nothing, only that innocent open look men love. The
look that tells them you'll go along with whatever they want to do to you. It had gotten me out of
trouble on many occasions and into trouble on occasions, too. I knew how well the expression
worked, if other things were in order. Clothes, long hair, lipstick and then of course the value of
having blue eyes. I hadn't understood the value of my blue eyes until I was about twelve. But then it
hit me. Blue eyes could do many things for a girl, if they were in a jam, that other things simply could
not. They proved to be priceless when it came to men.
Is that your brother? the man asked me quietly, motioning to Rodger as he snored, drooling on
himself. I nodded, smiling and happy that he thought Rodger was my brother and not my husband.
Huh. Interesting, the man concluded. He turned and walked to the front of the bus, following the
first fruit inspector. Then he pivoted on his heel to look at me and wink as he easily stepped off the
three tall steps. I leaned into the isle, flipped my hair over my shoulder and waved prettily, like we
were old friends just saying hello again. Six or eight old-people-heads all turned around, perplexed,
wondering. I went back to reading The Great Gatsby and ignored them. The bus driver turned the
motor back on and stepped on the gas. We eased forward, gravel crunching under the tires, toward a
dilapidated building, probably constructed during the Great Depression, only about sixty feet from
the first stop where the two inspectors had boarded the bus to do the inspection. The bus came to a
stop and the driver got out of his seat again.
We've got about a ninety minute stop here and that's all! the driver announced loudly over the
length of the bus. The bus was half empty and from the middle to the back was vacant. I got up and
stretched, sticking my ass out and arching my back. Ninety minutes to walk around, maybe buy some
chips and juice and look for the inspector. I had already decided I would try.
Rodger had used the Latrine on the bus only a few minutes earlier, in the far back, with the
swishing blue liquid and the medicine-shit smell. He wasn't moving so I left him there, unconscious in
his seat. I walked off the bus, hopping off the last step and saw the old man, Eric, watching me as he
stood by an old leafless tree of unknown species. I smiled evilly and swept past him. I walked near the
10

little General Store next to what looked like a vacant, old hotel. There was a group of cowboys
gathered around, watching me with mean looks on their faces. One of them was wearing expensive
looking leather chaps and looked exactly like a cowboy from a movie. He sneered at me as I passed.
City bitch! he hissed under his breath. I ignored him and flipped my hair over my shoulder in a
blatant fuck you gesture. He scoffed. Cunt! he whispered after me. I was unaffected by his words and
smiled to myself, knowing he would fall all over himself if he could fuck me if I gave him even one
tiny opening by smiling at him or asking him if he had some gum, a tissueor a condom.
I waited politely for the older folks to walk into the store ahead of me, to buy food and use the
restrooms. After the last one slipped into the store, I stepped back, turned and walked off the porch
and to the right side of the building. The group of cowboys seemed in perfect keeping with the
scenery as they watched me intently. The landscape was all desert, dry tumble weeds and small
patches of green grass that struggled to hang on with no rain. Near the front porch of the general
store sat two long wooden planter pots filled with colorful acetate flowers in red, white and blue, and
covered in a thick layer of prairie dust.
I tried to recall where the inspector had gone and it seemed hed walked behind the building. I started
walking around to the back, down a narrow incline. Dead looking shrubs to the right of me brushed
my bare arm while the cowboys watched me, smirking. I followed the worn dirt trail and found myself
on a concrete patio with a small apartment in the back, visible through filmy glass sliding doors. The
inspector was standing near the end of the patio, on the far left side, smoking. He turned and saw me,
while pulling on the cigarette.
I walk right up to him and smile. Hi, I'm Madeline! I announce brightly. I push my tits out and
perform a quick phony military salute. Are you a General? I ask, giggling. He laughs,
condescendingly, as he pulls on the cigarette and then blows smoke directly in my face. He looks
down at me with interested wary eyes. I smile tilting my chin in towards him. I give him direct eye
contact and the blank, I'll-do-whatever-you-want-me-to-smile and let the smoke pass into my face,
fluttering my eyelashes as it stings my eyes.
Honey, what are you doin' back here? I'm on duty. I shift in my braided Bass leather flats, looking
down. You know that man on the bus? The one sitting next to me?
Yeah? he says, bored.
He's not my brother, he's my husband. I've been married for almost ten months, now. I make my
face go sad.
Are you happy? he asks, on cue.
Well, when he's not watching boxing or news shows, I guess, but not really. I dunno.
Why don't you leave him if you're not happy and by the way, how old are you?
Well, you know, its never just that easy. Oh, Im nineteen, almost twenty.
Well, I'm married with three kids. I know how not easy it can be tooman do I ever.

11

He takes another drag on his cigarette and watches me, waiting, his eyes shrewd and alert. I take a
deep breath. Its just that he never takes care of me, you know? My comment catches him by
surprise and he flicks his spent cigarette down onto the fine gravel near where the concrete patio
ends.
You sayin' he don't fuck you?
Well...yes, I guess that's what I am saying, My eyes are wide. I heave a heavy sigh, as if Ive just
unburdened a big secret and drop my hands to my sides. The invitation is right out there. I push out
my tits a little more. Let me ask you somethin' girl. Are you a cock tease, cause there's nothin' I hate
more than a...
No! I say, my voice, high. I'm not meeeen like that. I'd never do that to a man. I really like youI...
My voice trails off. I screw my face up into a hurt expression, blink three times and look down. I make
my eyes water a little. Its not difficult. Ive done it before.
He notices and seems concerned. Hey, take it easy, baby. I didnt mean nothin' He walks the one
step it takes to get to me and takes my elbow in his large brown hand. He strokes the white skin with
his thumb, holding me firmly, looking me in the eyes and everywhere else. He's taking me all in, like
hes seeing me for the first time. Then he looks me right in the eyes.
Don't you mock me, girlie girl, he threatens quietly.
Yes, sir. I mean, no...I won't mock you. I smile, coy.
There's a room in the back here, do you wanna...I mean...are you sure?
I'll do whatever you want.
What's your name again?
I'm MadelineMadeline Bracken. But you can call me Maddy. What's your name, other than
Conrad? I motion to his name-tag pinned to his brown jacket.
Conrad Ridgepole, from Modesto and other placesin case you ever wanna look me up. Will you do
that? Look me up?
Yes, I promise. I promise, I'll look you up.
He pulls me into the apartment, turns and reaches behind me and clicks the deadbolt shut. He looks
down at me, still with that concerned serious look in his eyes, like hes trying to figure me out. Were
locked in now, he purrs close to my face. I look up at him. My eyes are wide. He clasps my hand. His
hand is dry and hot. He pulls me past the living room, with standard rundown hotel furniture and into
a tidy dark bedroom with no windows. The smell of stale cigarettes and mildew fills my nose. It feels
like a bad room. Like bad things have happened there, like rape and long violent assault. The air of the
room is permeated with a thick feeling of recent stress. I feel butterflies in my stomach. I know it will
be perfect for what we're going to do. I shouldn't be there, though. Its dangerous and foolish. And its
wrong. He's married. I'm married. But the butterflies in my stomach make me feel alive and I love that

12

feeling, of being alive and standing on the opposite side of a precipice, with nowhere else t o go, but
down.
Without even consciously considering it, I reflect back to the two times I was molested before the age
of eleven and how terrified and excited I felt, remembering what the tattoo artist had done and how
hed made me come with his hand. My pussy starts to throb and heat up as it remembers. I think to
myself that being with a married man in a cheap looking room with no windows is somehow good and
right. That its an honest and righteous way for me to express my love of life, getting fucked by a man
other than my husband before my twentieth birthday. He switches on the overhead light. The dim
light fills the room with a sickly yellowish cast.
The queen size bed is made with thin white sheets, a cheap acrylic blanket and a purple flowered
hotel bedspread. He strides over and pulls the covers and bedspread off in one sweeping motion,
tossing them to the right, where they slide to the floor. He turns to me, suddenly authoritative. Take
it all off. I wanna see you naked. Do it now. His voice is quiet and serious. I take off my sweater first,
pulling off the pink bra with it and toss it on the bed. I push out my tits, my thin arms slack at my
sides and see hes looking right at them. I make him wait. The rest! he barks. I carefully step out of
my Bass leather sandals and then pull down the tight white skirt with my pink panties knotted inside,
kicking them to the side. I stand naked in front of him. My heart is beating hard in my chest and I can
feel humming in my ears, then a slight ringing. I approach him hesitantly. He likes that my eyes are
wide. He likes that I'm afraid. I can tell. Im getting wet. I know its going to be good. I stand at
attention and wait for him to tell me what to do next.
Got-damn girl! he says, looking me up and down. He reaches out with his right hand and lightly
strokes from my shoulder down to my left nipple, barely touching the flesh. Both my nipples harden. I
can see a large bulge where his groin is, beneath his work pants. His breathing picks up, is ragged and
uneven. I know hes excited.
I can't get all the way undressed, you understand? Not with my boots and my gear here. But I'm
going to treat you rightlike your husband doesn't.
Yes sir, I breathe out the words in my most affected little girl voice. Im playing it to the hilt now.
The girlish demeanor, the sexy voice. He doesnt seem to notice. He unhooks his leather belt and
unzips his work pants, impatiently pulling out his erect cock, angry and a bright lipstick pink. He
strokes it up and down, tucking his pelvis in. Its fat, long and covered in hideous, swollen veins. It
looks beautiful to me. My mouth starts to water and I swallow hard, looking at it with pained eyes.
It's beautiful, I whisper. He laughs, delighted, his mouth spreading into a wide grin. Then the grin
disappears. You get down on your knees and you crawl over here and you SUCK! Do you understand
me? I nod my head up and down. I silently drop to my knees and knee -walk over to him. I pull his
organ into my mouth with my right hand and my tongue and start sucking, humming into his cock,
breathing hard. Long in and out strokes make him reach out to hold onto the wall, near the bathroom
door.
Im wet and keep thinking about deep penetration and how much I want to feel it. But I have to wait.
Hes the one in control of the sex. I need him to be in control. Like the two men, when I was eleven,
were in control.
After a few minutes of oral, he pulls away and motions to the bed. Get up there on your knees and I
want your ass high in the air. Your husband ever fuck you doggy style?
13

About least once a month he does that. Its his favorite position.
What's your favorite position?
All I care about is the man's pleasure, I answer sweetly.
Good answer. How many men you fuck in the last ten months, Madeline? Conrad asks meaningfully.
Only two. My husband and now...maybe you?
Good answer. Are you wet young lady?
I'm not sure, I lie. I don't think so.
Well, I'll take care of that for you. Hes right next to me, I can feel his hot smooth cock brushing
against the back of my right thigh and the coarse pubic hair, soft, as it tickles my ass cheek. Stick
that ass up high. I'm gonna smack it hard! I arch my back and move my ass from left to right and
make the little girl sounds all men love. He comes down hard on my right buttock. The sting is
immediate and I gasp, sucking air, as I feel the heat spread. That's right -just like that-just like that, I
whisper to myself. Look at that nice pink bloom. You like a good-long-hard spanking doncha, baby?
I dont answer.
I asked you a question, girlie girl!
Yes, sir! Yes, sir!
He comes down on my left buttock and goes back and forth, right to left, his brown hand coming
down hard. I lay my cheek on the pillow, smile and gasp as his hand comes down again and again.
With the last stroke, he grabs my right buttock and squeezes hard, his fingers sinking deep into the
soft flesh. There is no pain, only the blooming, spreading heat all across my ass and it feels good. Then
I feel the tip push against the back of my pussy and hes pushing inside, pushing in and up. The
thrusting feels good and he doesn't stop. Gonna make it last, he grits to himself. He keeps going and
after eight full minutes he's isn't stopping. I keep track of the minutes by watching the electric clock
radio on the night stand, next to the bathroom.
He keeps up the pace, pushing in hard. Finally, I feel his cock arch and the heat of a big load. His cock
pulses four, then five times. I know its going to be a lot. I smile. Baptismal waterhis cum. Like Holy
Water, blessing me, filling me up. I think he's done but he's not. His cock is still deep inside. With his
right hand he reaches around and begins to massage my entire pussy, finding and then focusing on
the soft protrusion of my clitoris. Its clear he's done this before, probably with his wife, the mother of
his three kids. I'm surprised because I've never actually come with a man before, other than the tattoo
artist, and I'm uncertain. Is he really enjoying this? Getting his fingers wet like this?
The only other time's I've had an orgasm was after Rodger had sex with me, after he'd washed off and
walked into the living room, swinging his pelvis loosely, satisfied and ready to go onto other things.
He would watch another boxing match, or leave the house and watch boxing with one of his buddies
at their place. Laying on the bed later, naked under the white sheet, I would move my finger around
my clitoris and massage until I came. I would arch my back and come, three, sometimes four times.
But now this man, Conrad, was doing it for me.
14

I arch my back and make more little girl sounds, only this time, I mean it. This time Im serious. He
smiles into my hair and laughs, Poor little baby needs a good Daddy to take care of her nice tight
cunt, doncha? He turns my face toward his, roughly, with his hand, in an effort to kiss me. Call me a
cunt. He smiles and says, You little cunt! You like gettin' fucked, doncha? He slides his tongue in
my mouth. I open my mouth and let him push it in. He starts getting hard again.
I'm gonna fuck you some more, okay baby? He slides inside and pushes hard, all the way up. As he
slowly moves in and out, his hand still works my clitoris. I start feeling that ragged feeling that lets
me know Im about to come. My heart starts racing. I arch my back as much as I can. As I come, he
comes too, flexing into me, grunting, holding me tight around the middle, pushing in so hard it hurts.
He breathes his coffee-breath into my face, his tongue flicking at my mouth like a serpent, like how
they do in porno flicks. I flick my tongue back.
I can't believe you made me come twice. Twice in one day. Oh honey, it just never happens like this.
Thank you Conrad. Thank you for this time together. I sing the last lines; the song from the Carol
Burnett show and giggle, but he doesnt get it. He pulls out and steps back, off the bed, staggering a
little. Standing spread legged, he hangs his head, breathing hard, contemplating the floor. I look over
at him with his shirt undone, the thatch of light brown hair at his groin and his pants near his knees,
his still swollen cock glistening wet and dripping cum from the tip. He looks perfect. Then he breaks
the moment and walks to the bathroom to get a clean washcloth. He turns on the spout and soaks it,
then washes himself with it and pulls up his pants and fastens his belt. He walks back to the bed. Im
sitting on the front end of it, my hairs a mess, my legs spread slightly, my pussy burning and his cum
slowly spilling out onto the bed sheet, my ass still hot from the hard spanking. Thirty two minutes
have passed since I got off the bus.
Spread your legs little girl, I'm gonna get you all cleaned up. Instantly I think of the tattoo artist
when I was eleven. I can do it myself, you don't have to... My voice trails off when I notice the look.
Thats when I stop speaking. When he gives me the look. The look says be quiet. He reaches down and
gently wipes away the cum and folds the washcloth so he can use the clean side to wipe again. I'm all
up inside you, huh baby? Hes proud of himself and smug. I could make you in pregnant in two
shakes of a lambs tail. Do you know that? Thats what I do, I make girls pregnant. Its my special gift.
I look up and smile, as he continues to wipe my wet pussy, his face right next to mine. You're going
to give me your phone number, Madeline and I'm gonna call you. We're gonna spend more time
together, next time I drive to Portland. In about a week. How does that sound?
Really good. I smile up at him, grateful.
Open your mouth.
He leans down and I open my mouth. He slides in his rough, thick tongue. I let him push it all the way
in. He's fucking my mouth, moving his tongue around and pushing it all the way into the back of my
throat. He pulls away, kisses me on the mouth once more and disengages from me.
You put on all your clothes like a good girl. Do you understand me?
Yes, sir.

15

Now give me your phone number! He waits, then yells, Come on! Quick, quick! I'm momentarily
startled by the demand.
But, I...I...
Now, do it NOW!
Its 777-1692, I say in one go In Portland.
That's good. Quick, so you dont gimme a phony number. See? I'm impressed and I smile and giggle
nervously, smoothing down my white skirt. I can feel the wet cum soak my panties and I squeeze my
legs together. I walk over to him and look up, eager, loving, adoring. He's much taller than my five
feet four inches.
Did I please you? I ask, begging for approval.
Oh, baby, you have no idea. Yeah, I'm happy. Im a happy man.
He puts his arms around my waist tight and then lifts me up. He's holding me up and I hang there, my
feet dangling, smiling and wrapping my arms around his neck. I sink my hands into his tousled dark
blond hair, feel the sweat on his forehead and look into eyes bluer than my own.
What do you weight, 120?
I weigh 125. I need to lose weight. I giggle. He doesn't let me down.
You'd let me do just about anything to you, wouldn't you?
I like to be passive. I like the man to be in control. I think its better when the man is in charge. Men
need to be in charge, right? He ignores the question.
I'm going to call you. We're gonna make plans to get together next time I drive to Portland. In about
a week. Okay?
Yes, Conrad, I'll do whatever you say. I promise.
He sets me down and looks at me hard. I'm gonna fuck you next week, you got that?
Yes, sir. My eyes are wide. I don't blink.
Don't forget. Dont forget how it felt when Conrad made you come. There's going to be a lot more of
that in the future. A lot of fucking and a lot of coming.
Thank you Mister Ridgepole.
You sassin me? He pretends to be stern and grins broadly.
He turns me around and lifts up my skirt. His hand comes down on my tender right buttock, with one
hard slap. I gasp and lean into him, knees weak. That feels goood, I breathe out, giggling. He turns
16

around and my skirt falls back down. He pushes me out the door, gently, with his broad hand on my
back, between my shoulder blades. Get back on that buswith your husband. The word husband
comes out like a swear word. I nod my head as I turn around and give him my serious blank look,
looking up at him, worried. He can insult me, insult my husband and I'll still do what he tells me. Hes
handsome and has a hard cock. I'd do whatever he tells me to and he knows it. Are you really going
to call me? I ask the question with a worried expression on my face. Dont you worry, Im gonna be
calling you. You can count on it. Now get! I smile and turn around. I walk out the sliding doors, as he
pulls out a cigarette, lights up and turns away.
I walked back to the bus, running my hands through my hair. I got on the bus and walked clear to the
back, to the restroom, hungry, wishing I had purchased the chips and juice. Rodger was still asleep
and had his head deep into a pillow pressed into the window. I washed my hands and face in the sink,
with the paltry stream of water and no soap and sat on the toilet. I had to come again. Once wasn't
enough. I kept seeing Conrad and his handsome persimmon colored face, and the incredible contrast
of his blue eyes. I pushed aside my panties and slid my index finger deep inside, then pulled it out and
massaged my clitoris fast and hard. I stood up and dropped my panties to the floor, bending to step
out of them and stuff them into my white purse. I sat back on the toilet, spreading my legs wide,
aware of the sloshing blue liquid below me. I came after about two minutes of hard massage. I thought
about how I must look sitting on the toilet. A nineteen-year-old girl, having been unfaithful to her
husband, masturbating herself on a tour bus, in the back toilet, her hand wet and slick between her
slender white legs.
I stood up and wiped my right hand with a paper towel, but didn't wash it. I brought my hand to my
nose and smelled the floral meaty scent of my young cunt. As I opened the door, I saw that Eric, the
old man was waiting outside. He stood there, uncertain but interested. His eyes were wide, adoring,
begging for dominance. My mouth curled in contempt, as I smiled. I closed the door behind me and as
the bus was empty, with only Rodger still asleep far down the aisle. I brought my right hand to his
nose. Smell it! I ordered in a terse whisper. He looked frightened and excited as he leaned in close to
smell my hand. I could see he wasnt as tall as Conrad, standing only about five feet ten instead of six
foot two. His mouth fell open and his eyes closed as he smelled the pussy on my hand. Open-YourMouth! I ordered. I brought my hand in closer, next to his lips. He opened his mouth and I pushed in
two fingers, curving them down on his wet tongue. I could see his teeth. They were yellowed but clean
and shiny. He sucked hard, swallowingeyes shut tight. I could see that he was getting an erection
beneath his pants. I reached down with my left hand and stroked the swollen lump. His breathing was
ragged and irregular.
I felt totally out of control, as I opened the door to the restroom and motioned him in, impatiently. He
followed me and waited for me to lock the latch. There was hardly adequate room, but he managed to
undo his trousers and pull out his penis, which was surprisingly hard and fat. I turned around and
arched my back, looking at him through the mirror, spreading my legs and pulling up my skirt. Do it
doggy style old man! His breathing was ragged as he said, Yes, Mamn, I'll do whatever you say. He
held his penis next to the back of my pussy and pushed in. It slid inside. It wasnt as hard or as big as
Conrads but it was hard enough to do the job. He slid in and out for a few minutes. I kept
remembering when Conrad was fucking me and the hard slaps on my ass. You're a little slut, aren't
you? Eric whispered in my ear, but it came out more like a broken sob than a question. I smiled and
answered, Yes, today, I am a slut old man, and it feels good. He continued to push in and out and
then shuddered in orgasm, tucking his pelvis in, tight. What a nice girl you are, he breathed
raggedly into my ear.

17

Can I see you again?

I'll give you my number.
After we disengaged and he pushed his wet penis back into his pants, we casually ambled back to our
seats. My pussy burned, sore, swollen. He reached into his pocket as he sat down and brought out a
blue ink pen. His hands were just barely shaking. I took a Wet Nap out of my purse, tore it open and
wiped my hands with it, looking him boldly in the eyes, as he peeked through the seat. He watched
eagerly, his mouth open and slack, lifting his eyes to give me direct eye contact, as I washed the stink
off my hand. He asked for my phone number and I gave him the number to the central library in
downtown Portland, which was one of the few phone numbers I'd ever gone to the trouble to
memorize. Eric would never see me again. I would see Conrad and still get the occasional fuck from
Rodger, for as long as I could manage it. I was something different to both of them. I wanted to be that
something different. I needed to be that something different.
Eric sat in the seat, looking back every few minutes, with that same look of adoration. He was pathetic
and adoring, like a puppy. I smiled at him, feeling his and Conrads juice ease out of me, soaking my
panties even more. It felt dirty and it felt nice. Slowly, some of the old people started to file onto the
bus. Even Eric's old wife. I still didn't know her name. She climbed in next to him and sat by the
window falling into a noisy sleep. I felt smug, knowing that her husband's juice was easing out of my
body. She would never know her husband had fucked me in the tour bus restroom. When Eric started
talking to me, on the ride still heading to Reno, his attitude was different, respectful, sincere, quietly
adoring. I didn't glare at him. I smiled and engaged him. I asked him how many children he had and
how long he and his wife were married. Six children, all son's he told me, and they'd been married
forty years, since they were twenty. Twice, I reached over, as Rodger and Erics wife slept and touched
Erics hand through the seats, my face full of warmth and promise. He reached down and pressed his
penis beneath his trousers while looking at me with large golden brown eyes, his bald head shining,
his mouth open and slack, his eyes filled with love. I can't wait to see you again, Eric. His face fell
and I thought he might weep, when he heard me say his name. You are sooo beautiful, he whispered
back.
Rodger finally woke up and reached over for me, murmuring incoherently. I was tired but still worked
up. He whispered in my ear that he wanted to go to the back of the bus and make out. It had been four
weeks he said, and he wanted to have a little foreplay with me, befor e we went back to the hotel
room to have our monthly fuck on the eleventh floor, in our tiny room. What that really meant was
that he'd ejaculate too soon and leave me, Thirsty at the River, with no way to drink, like he always
did. I stood up and exited the isle. As Rodger passed me and began walking to the back. Eric looked up
curiously and I bent down and whispered, My husband wants to make out with me in the back of the
bus. I'll hate it but I have to do it, I explained philosophically. He smiled, and asked, Can I watch? I
nodded my head and caressed his left cheek with my hand. Rodger sat in the back seat, turning to look
at us, missing the caress by two seconds.
When we were settled into the very back seat, I thought I could hear the blue liquid in the toilet
sloshing around. I curled into Rodgers arms, my ass near his groin and lay into his left shoulder. I
turned to face him and opened my mouth, as if I was waiting to be fed. He pressed his mouth on mine
and pushed his tongue deep inside. I opened my mouth and wondered if he could taste the coffee
from Conrad's mouth. He had no idea. I loved that he didnt know. It made me feel like I could do
anything. I had allowed myself to be fucked by two men in the span of 25 minutes. Now I was being

18

intimate with my husband, but I felt no remorse and I couldnt explain why. Lets try something
different. Why don't you actually give me an orgasm for a change? I could tell Rodger was surprised.
What? What do you want me to do?
You heard me. Just rub my clit, right here, until I come. Then you can have your turn.
Rodger seemed embarrassed but eager. He reached in through the top of my skirt and pushed his
hand down to my pussy. I tucked my pelvis in toward his hand, encouraging him. He slid his hand past
my pink panties and into the folds of wet skin.
You're wet! he said, surprised.
I was thinking about you earlier.
He smiled and looked at me lovingly. Really? Do you really love me? Sometimes I worry you dont. I
sighed as he pressed his fingers into my clitoris. You're the only man I could ever love. After only a
minute or so of his gentle massage, I started to come. I opened my mouth wide, into a silent scream,
arching my back and gyrating my pelvis quickly, as he continued to massage my pussy, having my
third orgasm of the day. He looked down at me, concerned. Are you okay, sweetie? I laid against
him, out of breath and didnt answer. I knew he was shocked. I hadn't tried to be a lady about it. I
wanted the orgasm and I had responded piggishly, like an animal. I felt no remorse. I knew that
Conrad would have approved, encouraging me, telling me I was a good girl, egging me on, slapping my
ass hard.
I looked down the aisle and saw Eric, looking back, watching, from the opposite side, with a perfect
view of Rodgers hand on my cunt. That fuckers watching us! Rodger hissed into my ear. Leave him
alone. Let him watch. I bet he never gets any cunt, I whispered easily. Rodger looked down at me.
Any what? I didn't answer. He considered my comment though, and his feeling toward Eric seemed
to change. He lifted his wet hand, waved, and gave Eric the thumbs up. Eric smiled, a look of cunning
on his face and gave Rodger the thumbs up in return. More. I need more, I said impatiently. Rodger
sighed and started massaging my pussy again and I came for a fourth time. Eric watched, his mouth
loose and slack, his eyes on my groin the whole time.
All the other people on the bus sat directly in front of Eric and looked forward or out their windows,
unaware of Rodger, Eric and me. The bus driver was watching though, through the rear view mirror
with a morose look on his face. I smiled dreamily, waved and gave him the Peace Sign. He looked away
glumly and kept driving.
I could sense Rodger waiting. I knew he would want to come too. I turned, bent over and as he quickly
pulled out his penis, I sucked hard. He came in less than a minute and his cum filled my mouth. It
tasted like the Pineapple we had had for breakfast. I let it pool in my mouth and swallowed all of it. I
straightened up and lay there, leaning against him and felt totally content. I had the cum of three men
inside me, sloshing around like the blue liquid in the toilet sloshed when the bus moved. This fact
alone, proved that I was desirable.
Except that cum was like Holy Water, blessing me from the inside out. Cum was sterile the medical
articles all said, and the origin of all life. Unless someone had a disease, there was nothing dirty or
unclean about cum. Holy Water. Like Holy Water. I smiled at the thought.
19

By the time my husband and I got back to Portland, I would have a new lover, who lived out of town
and a husband who worked graveyard. It was perfect. I contemplated the future with anticipation. As
long as I had Conrad to keep me company when Rodger was at work or out with his friends watching
boxing matches, and I was at home or elsewhere, getting fucked hard, this marriage thing might
work. I turned to Rodger, looking up at him and breathed, God, I love you! He smiled. I'm glad
you're back to your normal self. I was worried there for a minute. You are back to your normal self,
right Maddy? I didn't answer.
I remembered my birth control pills, got up slowly and smoothed down my white skirt. I walked back
to our seats, with Rodger following me. We sat behind Eric, who wouldn't look back at me. He hung
his head and slouched into the seat. I knew he was hurt. And I didnt care. I reached down and picked
up my large white leather purse. Honey, are you okay? You seem different somehow. What's
happened? I looked over and smiled at Rodger, ignoring the question, as I patted his right knee, as if
he were a child. I knew I had seven left. But I wouldn't need any for the next few days as Rodger had
just experienced his monthly nut.
Conrad had told me he'd call me in a week and we would make plans to get together. He had told me
he wanted to make me pregnant. I took out the rest of the birth control pills and stood up unsteadily.
It had been a long day. I walked up to the front of the bus. It swerved a bit as it rounded a corner. I
held onto one of the seats for support, then continued walking to the front. As the bus sat at a light, I
tossed the birth control pills into the small gray trash bin near the front door. The ten or twelve old
people looked at me curiously. I ignored them, then walked back to Rodger, easing in beside him.
I knew Conrad would be happy to take me away from Rodger, once he found out I was pregnant. I'd
tell him the truth about Eric, eventually. After a couple of months. He'd be angry and slap me around
a little bit. But later, we'd make up. Because he was a gentleman, he wouldnt hit me in the face. Then
he'd leave his wife and three kids and start a new life with me, in Portland. He'd choose me over them.
He'd choose me.
I became drowsy, leaning into Rodger, who stroked my hair and whispered, Its okay sweetie, I'm
going to take better care of you from now on. I'm going to take better care of you, okay baby? I didnt
answer him. Instead, I fell asleep thinking of Conrads handsome persimmon face, hard cock and large
brown hands. He'd choose me, I thought to myself. He'd choose me.
Copyright 2016 by Theresa Griffin Kennedy

20

21

A.D. WINANS (For his 80th Birthday)

the first thing is his grip

when he clasps your shoulder
whilst making a point old Al
ancient boy, younger than
the redwood grove, born
on the day of dead stars
in the shadow of tides
down by Lands End. sea smashing
into a fist of rock, seals
barking on their promontories
mute Golden Gate Bridge
double-crossing
the sweeping coast
a blizzard in
words, the angelic choir
passing across his eyes
eighty years in the
Judah Street jamboree, twin
slopes, twined trees, the dread
brown leaves piling up, he is
due for a second
coming, due to
writhe on the head
of a pen, to lean in on his screen
and find
the beat pantheon, the ones
who were outside of the
outside, Bob Kaufman, Jack Micheline
Danny Propper -- ah, A D
we wrap nothing
around City Lights
22

anymore, no, we wreck our way

to the cafes on quick and quiet
boulevards or profane streets
I guess good luck
is a dream -- eighty years
you have found
the poem -- rough hewn
maker, risk taker still
writing on a comet
far above the rooftops
of the watering holes
in North Beach, Big
Jack Mason kaput, Mike
the Spike a doorknob, Paddy
OSullivan and the Queen of
Sheba, derelict William Butler
Yeats with mangy dog
outside VesuvioS Bar, Red
William measuring the drinks
ALWAYS A PLEASURE
to slowly die, to find branches
a bit weathered, roots
hardly clinging, and yet
the rings holding
ALWAYS TIME to feel
smiling poets, those you
cherished, raucous Dutch
Kamstra gone silent, Ferlinghetti
clear at 96, Hal Norse
a memory, Janice Blue
what can we imagine, how do
you do it, how did a wreath
land on the sidewalk, Jimmy
23

So and So -Al Winans, we will be

late, but when I see you
holding a folder
of poems time ceases
for a moment and the field
is clear

Copyright 2016 by Neeli Cherkovski

24

25

LADY DEATH

Shes a bitch a whore a toad

Shes two hundred pounds of lard
Hiding in a one-hundred pound body
She convinced Napoleon he was six feet tall
And sent him off to his Waterloo
She lit the last cigar of George Burns
Blowing smoke in his face
Minutes before he died
She convinced Custer he was God
Lit the match that set Rome on fire
She made love to Eva Braun before
Fucking Hitler in his bunker
Seconds before dousing him with gasoline
She disguised herself as the Pope
Blessed the bomb before it fell on Hiroshima
She pulled the trigger that took Hemingways life and for the sheer fun repeated it with
Hunter Thompson
She blew Buddha before he could cross
His legs and become a living idol
Shes a mafia hit man
A sniper in waiting
Shes a terrorist with a bomb
Hidden in her skirt
She lit the match that set Joan of Arc on fire
She built the cross that Jesus died on
She convinced Houdini
He could return from the dead
She burrowed her way into the vagina
Of the Madonna turned Cain against Abel
Shes in the testicles of every male
Primed and ready to be released
Sucking the life out of you
Like a child sucks the juice from a straw

Copyright 2016 by A.D. WINANS

26

27

After teaching you

Broken chess pieces

litter front yard
finally won game.

Copyright 2016 by David E. Howerton

28

29

Guesstures

The first draft sat in front of him. The Pen's Seal was a short story shaped neatly on the
paper in graphite. He smiled. The smile was an act with a degree of consciousness, which seemed to
parallel Saussure's separation between sign and sig nified. So, he smiled, hoping that the gesture
might create some easing affinity between him and the page.
The first twenty-four and three-quarters pages of the draft had been sitting there for two
days without changing expressions, and, in short, the writer's gesture did not work.
He stared at the page. He tried reading the words. Gradually, this started to seem
productive; the words of Dr. Michael came back to him, and the content of a philosophy of language
course now served as commentary in his mind on the draft, which was held in his left hand, arm's
length from his eyes. The writer's right hand went reflexively to his chin, and the hmm that
vibrated through his closed lips startled him and chased away the promise of the culminating
thoughts.
He let go.
The papers spread slightly, randomly atop the white veneer surface of the desk where he
sat.
He stood up from the chair and walked to the wall-mounted bookshelf, which stretched
across the west wall of his studio apartment. He lifted one of the heavy green fabric window
curtains the previous tenant had installed to conceal the contents of the shelves. He took a half-full
bottle of brown liquor and went to the desk.
He poured a half-inch of the brown liquid into a glass, returned the bottle, released the
curtain to settle, and repositioned himself in front of the draft.
Michael lifted the draft and considered the walls of his apartment.
Why white?

Page 2: The only option is to white it out.

Page 7: That's white.

Michael laid the pages down, and lifted the glass, swirling the contents slowly beneath his
nose, as he had seen others do. He inhaled and nearly gagged, as he usually did. He got up, went to
the sink, and poured the dark liquid into the porcelain bowl. He splashed water against the sides of
the bowl, rinsing all of the liquor away, returned to the desk, picked up a wooden #2 pencil, and
turned to page two. He drew a deep line through the sentence, The only option is to white it out.
He turned to page seven. He pressed the lead hard and ended his line at the period in That's
white.
Michael turned to page four and began reading again. His brow furled; finally, he placed his
palm to his temple and wrapped his fingers around his forehead.
30

There was a sheltering intention in this action that his most recent girlfriend had pointed
out to him. He wasn't completely comfortable with how that had struck him, but he had not argued,
and now, he readily admitted to himself what she had observed.
He put down the draft and picked up his phone. He selected the name, Kesha, created a
message, and began to type in text.

Hey. I was in class today. The pains of it. They went out the window. I couldn't remember
whether you liked when I rubbed the small of your back. Hers had a load of ink on it Never seen
that much white and grey in skin before. It was amazing. It was a piece with relative perspective.
When vertical, it appears to be running down. When horizontal, the drops and pools seem to have
just been projected from the direction of her feet. Serious conflict. I wanted to touch it, and I didn't
at the same time.

He looked at the text, then added a sentence:

Tell me what I'm thinking.

He smiled and put the phone aside. He flipped to the first page of the draft and picked up the
pencil. At the top of the page in form with the indentation, he wrote, 'Tell me what I'm thinking.'
His smile widened, and he chuckled lightly, as he turned to page four and began to read. He
skimmed the top half of the page making small lines through any reference to mental activity. With
each line, he scribbled a brief note about an outward action that might express the mental activity
he had struck out. He laughed when replacing thought writing this letter was difficult with lips
pursed, and the hand lingered above the page. As he finished this, his phone vibrated.
Michael stopped and picked up the phone. A single line was displayed after opening his
girlfriend's response: it never happened. call me.
He put the phone down and stood up. He shuffled to the first page and dragged a heavy line
through Tell me what I'm thinking. He then went through the draft scribbling out each of the
brief notes about an outward action. He made notes in the margins to disregard the small lines
marking through text that described mental activity. Next, he drew brackets from the top of the
section he had edited and the bottom of that section, and connected the bracket to the note with a
line. Then, sitting down, he turned to page eighteen.

Nobody would have to know. This wasn't the sort of thing that happened
every day, so it was likely that even Claire could pass by several times without ever
considering that there might be a small person living in his closet.
The groceries wouldn't increase by a significant amount. The heat and the
cooling costs could remain the same. What wasn't he thinking of?

31

Christ! How he hated these exercises. He sat there in the large sofa tightening
up the muscles around his brow. His face began to turn red, and he noticed that he
was holding his breath. He fell backward into the sofa and sighing.
He could ask Claire.
That was the answer! How do you ensure that the smartest person you know
never discovers something they would never expect to be happening? You simply ask
them what they would look for if the thing were happening. She loved thought
exercises, and he was presenting absurd scenarios all the time. So, it wouldn't be
difficult to bring it up, and even better, she wouldn't suspect that she was actually
revealing the very things that he needed to conceal.
pg. 18

His phone had rung.

What was with that text message? Her voice had been crisp through the small speaker. It
had always seemed that way, even after he had begun to sometimes feel that the voices of others
were blunted objects bumping off him.
You know, I was just kidding. Wasn't that sort of funny? Didn't you just sort of see the
image of it and laugh to yourself? He had begun smiling at the sound of her voice and little bursts
of laughter had popped out between his words.
Okay. Her breath had relaxed with a sigh at the end of this. How is your day, Michael?
Good. He had taken a deep breath and then released it. I think I'm quite happy. I'm trying
to get some work done... That is, I've been staring at this paper all morning. Raising the pitch of
his voice a bit, he had quickly added, Maybe we could get some lunch, Kesha. I don't feel much like
sitting somewhere with a big crowd, but we could grab some sandwiches and then come back here.
He had begun to listen to the minute crackle of the phone, and eventually, a constant fluctuating
buzz held some portion of his attention.
I'm pretty busy today. I really don't think I could get away for the hour or more that it
would take. Silence.
Yeah, he said, then listened to the buzz and tried to determine if the flu ctuation was in
sync with the voices passing through the phones.
I just won't take a lunch, she offered. Then I can leave work half-an-hour early, and I'll be
home by 4:00.
He was nearly certain at this point that the fluctuation was not correlated to their voices. In
fact, he had heard a flux to a higher pitch in the midst of Kesha talking, a flux to a lower pitch in
the midst of Kesha talking, and one of each sort when neither of them was saying anything. He
pulled the phone away from his ear slig htly to better observe the sound around him.
Michael? The voice had been quiet, but still crisp.
Yeah? he said moving the phone back to his ear and opening the blinds. He had leaned
forward to look out the window. I'd love to see you sooner than later.
32

Okay, then. Do you want me to bring something with me? She had begun typing on the
report she was working on when she had received the text and began to wonder what Michael was
thinking, the phone between her shoulder and cheek.
I don't know right now. Do you hear that buzz? Michael asks, inflecting the question with
absolute sincerity.
Kesha pauses, winces at something like a pinch on the openness of a dream. Do you hear a
buzz?.. in your phone?.. Michael?
Yeah?.. Nothing passes through his mind. Perhaps it is an internal metronome, now
adjusted to the rhythm of the conversation, that prompts him. You don't hear anything... He
pushes ahead quicker, Call me when it's closer to time for you to leave. We can talk about what to
eat then.
Okay, Michael. If you aren't okayor if you just want some company, I can come over now.
The phone is in her hand again, and she pushes the keyboard away from her.
We both have work we should be doing. It's just a bad connection.
Okay. I'll talk to you later, Kesha replies.
Talk to you later.
He holds the phone in front of him, his elbows resting on the edge of the thin laminate
desktop. He turns up the volume slowly. Finally, there is a click and the screen displays the call
duration. He straightens his arms moving the small object as far from his ears as his hands can hold
it. He listens, distinguishing the sounds, and among the periodic cars, the humming of air
conditioners, and the faint murmur of a television, he finds the buzz.
He moves the phone closer then a minute distance further away. His eyes are on the phone,
pressing the possibility of the buzz deep into the crevice of the phone's speaker, fixing it there. The
fluctuation, whose embedded systematicity is pressing into his awareness, becomes pronounced
once more, but with the slight motion from closer to further, the sound does not become noticeably
louder, nor quieter. He lays down the phone, the buzz: a beacon, a point of reference. The fourth
bar of five on the battery icon disappears, and he pulls the draft close to him with moist hands.
He hangs his head over the draft for a moment, glances at the phone, thinks about sushi,
vomits on the floor, then turns to the last page.
The phone goes dark, his eyes snap to it. His whimpers and breath stop. He presses a button.
The light comes on again. The third battery bar is still there at the top right of the screen. He
returns the phone to the desk.
He places the point of the pencil just after the end of the last paragraph. His l ips purse, and
his hand lingers above the page. With a jerk, he begins to shape the letter C. The lead snaps, and
he smashes the pencil into the paper several times, as he cries. The soothing vibration of his sobs
finally slows the unconscious pounding on his desk. His face is wet. Tears have spread across his
cheeks; mucus from his nose has encircled his mouth and puddles at his chin. Even his brow is
damp with sweat. The page is dotted and marred. Specks of lead and graphite dust litter it, and in
spots, the page has been gouged through and crinkled at the edges of the hole. He rummages
through the papers and other items on the desk. He finds a pen and turns back to the final page of
the draft, quietly humming along with subtle fluctuations.
33

Claire was leaning over his desk when he returned from the common
restroom down the hall. The brown faux wood desk with swollen, abraded rings from
past tumblers shifted as she leaned further toward the window.
Jesus, Claire! he declared.
Hey, I was wondering where you were. She was smiling and resting part of
her weight on the desk, which rocked visibly.
Be careful won't you? He moved toward the desk, pulling her up off of it. His
hands gently sliding down the white fabric of the back of her shirt and finding a
pivotal point of friction and support at the small of her back. Then, with his hands
just above the tight waist of her unbelted jeans, he pulled her. Her back arching, her
hair swung out away from her body, and she smiled.
Laughing, she put her hands on his upper arms and asked, What are you
strung so tight about?
Nothing. I just didn't expect you is all. He kissed her cheek and relaxed his
arms slowly, allowing her to straighten and balance herself. I've got a thought
exercise for you though.
pg. 25

Oh yeah? She stepped to the small refrigerator that was humming beside
them. So, go ahead.
He watched her looking through the small selection of beverages that were
stored in the two door-shelves. Well, what might be an alert that I was keeping a
small person in my closet? He had moved to his desk and was straightening some of
the writing utensils that had been disturbed as she shook it.
She stood up with an apple, What size? she asked, promptly taking a bite of
the apple.
The top and bottom lids of his eyes pulled toward the center, and his lips
began parting with a hint of grimace. What?
What size is this person? she asked, staring at him as his face relaxed into
its usual appearance.
He quickly turned his head, looking out the window. No, he said, then
slowly turning back to her, he continued, you don't know there is a small person in
my closet. He turned toward her and took a step back, his right leg bumping into the
radiator. So, you couldn't know what size person. So, you have to think that out as
well. He began leaning back a little until his back and left side reached an
uncomfortable angle. With a grunt and a sigh, he positioned himself from beside the
radiator then fell back into the wall with a thud.
pg. 26

34

Ahh. So, then I should consider what amount of change might make me
suspicious. Though looking for a small person in your closet wouldn't likely be my
first suspicion even if some of the most telling clues were obvious. She took another
bite of apple and began swinging her left foot back and forth in front of her. After a
moment, a monotony emerged.
He was smiling and turned his head, thinking he might begin to laugh or
blush. The tall collar of his shirt brushed his cheek and he reached up, flattening it
down closer to his collarbone.
It was then, as he was resting less than ten feet from her, against the opposite
wall, baring his teeth and hardly containing his laughter, that the closet door slowly
slid open as the spring latch stretched itself, the slant of its end smoothly propelling
it forward.
Come 'ere! He wasn't able to start his body moving before the words were
out.
pg. 27

What the hell is your problem?! Claire returned, the apple now dangling at
her side, perched between her thumb and index finger.
He quickly glanced from her to the door, saw that it had stopped moving, back
to her, tried to hold his gaze, then back to the door, quickly back to her, and then
yielded to staring at the half-inch space between the floor and bottom of the slender
off-white door. Let's just go outside, he said with water pooling in his eyes, still
fixed on the door, now shifting from the latch's edge to the two dull colored hinges,
and finally again to the door's bottom where it met the side of the door that had
swung open.
Piss off, she said, and took the handle in her

His phone had rung again, mid-sentence this time.

He lifts the phone to his ear, and he quickly finds the buzz through the minute crackling of
the noise from the phone's speaker. He slams the phone onto the desk, then slowly lifts it back to
the cartilage of his ear and the flesh of his cheek.
Michael, is everything okay? Her voice is sharp.
Yes?! he realizes he may be whimpering, and he pulls in a breath through his nostrils,
tightening them, intentionally making noise.
That noise! What the hell?! The sound stabs through everything that separates his ear
from the speaker, his mind, her voice.
I know. I know!.. I don't want you to worry. Okay? he plies.
Okay, she says.
35

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Just come over when you can, he scrapes
together.
Why would I have anything to worry about, Michael? Her words dash about in his mind.
About this. About that sound, I mean. I just don't want any sushi, okay?
Okay, Michael. She takes a deep, deliberate breath and pauses. He extends his hand and
places the phone onto the desk. It sits just where he placed it, a dark rectangle, which has always
felt surprisingly solid and remarkably heavy in his hand.
He angles his body forward and repositions the draft in front of him. He smiles. The right
corner of his mouth wriggles with subtle fluctuation. He smiles, hoping that the gesture might
create some easing affinity. A tear rolls down and drops onto the paper.
Amid all he is in the midst of, some subtle certainty creeps into him. It fades, only to
resurge, like the echo of a choral melody interspersed in a hymn, Michael do you know what
you want what do you want me to bring Michael?

Piss off, she said, and took the handle in her hand. She swung the door of
the closet open, still looking at him. You don't ever talk to me, like that! she began.
His eyes were not turned to her though. Instead, they were focusing
somewhere in the closet.
pg. 28

My last boyfriend got attitude with me twice. The first time Her left hand
had moved to her hip after swinging the door, and now his were slowly rising
through the air, close to his own body, to his ears. What is your problem!? Claire
lowered her voice below the threshold of yelling, I never realized how wrong in the
head you must be. Why don't you look at me?
His hands reached his ears and pressed hard against the sides of his head, in
an attempt to seal them. His head began to swing from side to side as the tiny tips of
ten fingers emerged slightly from the shadow of the closet.
What is wrong with you? Claire asked. She softened her voice and shifted
her weight toward him. His hands shot out with the palms flat and facing her, in
reaction to the sudden motion in the closet which exposed, to the wrists, two tiny
hands with flesh so supple it wrinkled at every joint, and then ceased.
She stopped without ever shifting a foot, but the shaking of his head became
more vigorous, and finally, he began to yell, No! as he dropped to his knees on the
aged hardwood floor and cried.
pg. 29

36

After his lips, parted and contorted, quivered in silence, he dropped, coming
to rest curled forward and propped up on his hands, his head hanging down so that
his eyes, which Claire had last seen squeezed shut with tears pressing out, now
pointed nearly directly at his own abdomen.
She moved quickly to the floor in front of him, as she removed her cell phone
from her pocket. She pressed the power button, and her phone lit up, as she placed a
hand on Michael's shoulder. The hands moved forward; a little body, approximately
three feet tall, was revealed in the angled light which shone constantly on the small
section of the closet just by the doorway.
At feeling Claire's hand on his shoulder, Michael had tensed, pushed upward
seemingly trying to straighten himself, but then had relaxed completely onto the
floor.
Do you need me to call someone, Michael?
There was no answer, but despite Michael's silence, the small body moving to
doorway behind Claire went unheard. The little thing reached out its right hand to
the doorframe in a way so careful that it seemed not to disturb air.
pg. 30

Its hands resting on the frame, and supporting its weight, had a translucence, so that
the flesh seemed jelly-like and the nails like the plastic of a milk jug, so the bright
color of life could be seen beneath each one.
The crisp, near-perfectness of the hand called attention to the abundance of
minute flaws in the wood of the frame: the dents, the variations in the thickness of
the white paint, the missing paint. It seemed a terrible thing that the being might
slide that hand down the surface; but, it did not. The hand remained just there,
precisely where the being had placed it.
Michael, if you cannot hear me and respond, I am going to call 911! She was
now gripping the phone with both hands, on the thighs of her legs.
His head bounced slightly, then he groaned and he nodded his head. She
sighed and placed the phone beside her on the floor, leaning far down and resting
her head against Michael's back and stroking and patting various parts of his sides.
Please. I don't want to. You can stay here as long as you want. You know
pg. 31

that I will feed you and continue to care for you. We don't have to worry about what
Claire will think or say or do. She won't do anything to hurt me and hurting you
would hurt me... Michael's voice was so quiet that she hadn't noticed it until she was
close enough to hear his breath. Now the litany was distinct in spite of its unceasing
flow. She nearly held her breath.

37

I just can't. You know me. If I did things like that, wouldn't I have done them
to you? So strange, sitting in the corner that day. Of anyone or anything, wouldn't it
have been you that I would have met with violence? I don't want to do such things... I
wish you would speak loud enough to drown out the possibility. Michael's breath
became a fluid in and out without fluctuation.
Claire wiped at the tears on her face and spoke as quietly as she could while
being distinguishable. Michael, who are you talking to? Her voice seemed loud in
the silence of the room, beside Michael's whispering breath.

Michael put down the pen and walked over to the heavy green fabric. He pulled it aside and
began to turn each bottle in the row toward himself. The small plastic amber bottles with white
caps each had a white label. Each label had the same two names printed on them, his own and his
doctor's. The dates were an array which ranged from the middle of the past year to present. The
contents were indicated to be four distinct ones, with a fifth name on a single bottle in a row by
itself. He reached up and touched his face, feeling the grimace, he massaged his facial muscles and
attempted to relax. Then returning to the task of straightening each of the nineteen bottles, he
chuckled, hoping that the gesture might create some easing affinity between him and the world. He
started with a soft burst, taking note of the feeling of the action in his chest and neck, and then
listening to the sounds around him for any sign that it might have disturbed anyone. Next, he
chuckled louder and longer, taking the same care as the first time.
By the time he had straightened the three empty rows from last year and begun on the three
rows from this year, some partially emptied, but most unopened, his mouth was stretched wide,
slicing open his face from one side to the other, and the tendons in his neck were pulled out away
from the smooth column of flesh by his enthusiasm. When all the bottles were turned in neat rows
with their labels facing forward, Michael took a deep breath and went to the bathroom.

Copyright 2016 by Edward C. Wells III

38

39

Black Eye

The shell of the bus swayed. The bus was made of tin foil, like a madmans hat. A gust of hot air
blew across the aisle. Lice tumbled from Mt. Sinai as it shook in the wind and lightning.
Mt. Sinais rumpled skin fell from its bones.
Petra turned back to look for me. She still had the remnants of a black eye from a blow delivered by
an Englishwoman, a vegetarian who ardently promoted peace and love, but had silently borne the
spectacle of pre-dysentery Petra bullying her boyfriend David, making him cry. David was a skinny
vegetarian who ate so many carrots that his skin had turned a light shade of orange. Petra shivered
in her bones as resurgent dysentery nudged her towards death.

Copyright 2016 by Mitchell Grabois

40

41

TOM PETTY MAN

Jefferson rolls into the 7-11, Mel at the till; always Mel at the till on Friday night/Saturday
morning. Sitting beneath lamp warmers; breaded chicken in the night remains the only salvation
possible for Jefferson when the Point-After Sports Lounge & Grill closes at 2 AM.
Hi honey, Mel calls.
Hey baby.
Usual?
Fuckin A.
Jefferson heads over the heat lamp display, removes one of the sandwiches inside, and ever
so carefully takes the chicken burger out of its thin, foil wrapper. He removes the top bun off the
meat. He applies one sporkful of onions to the meat, and two of Jalapenos. The bun gets four and a
half pumps off the mayo-ranch spigot, a sporkful of relish, and two pumps off the mustard spigot.
He places the drenched bun back on top of the breaded meat. He mashes it down gently to make
sure there is a light spillover from the bun, but not enough to get on his fingers. Then he delicately
places the sandwich back in the thin foil wrapper, and delicately rewraps it.
He places his sandwich on the counter, goes to pour himself a full tank of Pepsi, and then
returns to Mels big shit eating grin.
Big night at the PA?
Nah. No game on tonight.
Get yer bad self up next to any of them alley cats?
Cmon Mel.
Aw, yer the king Jeff. Aint nobody run the poontang gauntlet at the Point After like you,
man. Boy I remember some nights youd come in here with two, hell sometimes three sweet pieces
a cooze all at the same time and then youd all blah, blah, blah.
Jefferson doesnt pay much attention to Mel jerking him off these days. How is it that this
career graveyard shifter manages to remember all this? Jefferson isnt even sure how long its been
since the last time he ran the gauntlet. How long have they been here? Doing this same shit week
after week? Month after month? Year after
Walking back to his apartment, taking that first deep, juicy bite of his breaded chicken
sandwich, washed down by that first sweep of confectionary sweet carbonated maple syrup,
Jefferson finds he remembers some of it.
He passes beneath the mini-balcony of the apartment where he impregnated his gorgeous
neighbor; though he can never remember which one he knocked up, the mother or the daughter.
42

He definitely remembers the daughter; she was the first one he cheated on his first, and eventual
third wife with. Hes pretty sure the mom just before wife number two. He still wonders how the
dad never found out about the abortion.
He passes by the ground floor apartment of his long time gilffriend, whom he balled fairly
steadily between wives two and four. He wonders where Janet went. He cant remember why she
left. It bothers him vaguely that he cant even remember her leaving. She always seemed so happy
here at the Sierra Arms.
Just before getting to the door of his own place, he begins thinking he should start putting
the light outside his apartment on, even though the thought of it running up his bill drives him to a
distracted frenzy. He misses the old days when coming back from the Point After Bar and Grill
meant the lights would be on, and he had roommates, and roommates had girlfriends, and there
was always a bong going around, and there was always the new Depeche Mode or some New Order
re-mix to check out which was always so weird sounding but always seemed to attract more young
girlfriends. Course, Jefferson was a Tom Petty man when the girls werent around.
Now the lights in his place are always off. When he comes home from the Point After, no
ones around anymore. Like with Janet, he has a hard time remembering when exactly they all left.
He fumbles for his keys for the two thousand seven-hundred and ninety first time. Instead
of pulling them up this time though, he suddenly drops his keys, which are then quickly followed
by his size 40 ass down onto the stoop just outside his door, and a sound that is some kind of hybrid
between a sigh and a sob frees itself from his well fueled torso. He sits quietly in the dark and bites
down hard into the only salvation left to him; his chicken in the night.

Copyright 2016 by Paul Corman-Roberts

43

44

Salami
My butt no longer taut,
breasts hoisted up
by bra straps the size of cranes,
i watch him drool
over the perky brunette
at the deli counter.
She's too busy popping
her gum and flirting
with the kid with orange hair
to notice.
He dawdles, scratches
an unkempt gray beard,
chooses the cheese
in the bottom counter,
forcing her to bend over,
saucy plums filling her
Tom's Market blouse
to perfection.
His eyes flash.
Memories of other days
cross his face.
My husband watches
the young ones now, too
when he thinks I'm not looking,
the way he watched me
in my twenties.
I want to tell the girl
to enjoy it, to flirt
and prance before
she grows old, before her
teeth fall out, before pain
jabs when she wiggles
or bends too far,
stuck too late in a clumsy
body that draws nary
a glance, but
instead,
I order a pound of salami.
Copyright 2016 by Pris Campbell

45

46

This Banana Slug on Mt. Neahkahnie

has only
ever known
green corridors
of ferns,
foxglove,
and spruce
to curve
and to crest,
contour and
crenellate
its slick
little
circumspect
body
around.
O maven
of mucus,
fin and foot
one, both
sexes
stored in one
fluid form
elongated
glistening
sum of
itself,
dark gold
gelatinous
teeth
twenty-seven
thousand
triangular
teethrasping
at the edge
of a large,
red leaf.

Copyright 2016 by Colleen McKee

47

48

July 4th of In-vict-us Call

Patient: Out of the night that covers me
Black as the Pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul
Doctor: My first patient overlooks sunset heaven on Independence Day while another blind
optimist stumbles at the barricade entrance, removing new plastic clinging like parade confetti to
the whitest coat, minutes before the Sunday massacre at Bunker Hill Memorial. Soon more
imaginary then real fireworks follow with all out defibrillating shocks and chest pounding, creating
large mountaineering challenges in the psyche as gitters escalate to unease, panic, and head-long
fear, while pressing shaky fingers against quivering eyes, taking slow deep breaths, and attempting
to rein in the apocalypse now thoughts. The brief calm shatters like delicate porcelain against a
nonstop conveyor belt of sterile linoleum, breaking bad with the courage to stand alone against the
onslaught, while stage fright tears overflow into embarrassing headwaters running over red
boulders of back-alley biohazard waste; once more trying to re-establish normal by peering out the
dark event horizon to picture friends and family relaxing in the distant galaxy of the backyard with
cold beer and soothing conversation. The heart starts to race again with the sympathetic fear, all
but a few weeks from graduation and the mighty pledge to uphold the Doctors Oath: Thou shalt be
a hypocrite! Pupils continue to dilate with crash and burn visionsan adrenaline fight or flight
response in full swingas the most important year of training finally takes off; now fueled by
urgent necessity and unrelenting purpose. After all, the outcome of this night, with time the
mutual frenemy, rests for the most part not on knowing complex medical jargon but the regular
rate and rhythm of a patient heart.
Patient: In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Doctor: Before starting as a medical intern at an esteemed, ultra large hospital mecca, resembling
the Great Pyramids rising out of the urban-rustbelt-desert of eastside Cleveland, I felt like so many
over confident and under prepared cocky new MDs. In med school I managed through two years of
late night cramming in the secluded underground bunker of the library, awakening to the rather
jarring bugle call of 7 am Ivy League problem based learning, followed by two more years in the
unsheltered boot camp of inner city wards under siege, going the extra mile by seeking out the
advice of residents ahead in combat training. I stayed hyper-vigilant during crash course
orientation with unhealthy legal stimulants, managed to fall asleep to a midnight lullaby of the
ticking clock and golden parable of satire in the rookie doctors bible: House of God, relaxing on
the weekend to a marathon of favorite classic TV shows including St. Elsewhere, Scrubs, and
ER. But now this first night of call was turning into a cliff-hanger behind enemy lines like
Courage Under Fire or Black-Hawk Down and despite all the measured foretelling and
prognostication, I found nothing really came close to simulating the shock and awe . The task
seemed all the more impossible as I was just learning to navigate the electronic medical record
while simultaneously creeping through the maze of a new and unfamiliar hospital. After losing my
way countless times going between floors, patient rooms, CAT scan, X-ray, the ER, and nursing
stations, I developed an altogether paralyzing tension headache straining to find items in the dark
infinite universe known as the supply room.

49

Patient: Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed
Doctor: Adding to the confusion, within the first fifteen minutes, the pager transformed into a live
grenade that buzzed, beeped, and blinked with nonstop mind-numbing fury, falling out my
fumbling hands, once within uncomfortable proximity of a septic urinal with the suffocating smell
of vomit. Although a few pages involved tedious, death by paper-cut minutiae dealt with in Groucho
Marx fashion over the phone, many required additional history and bedside eval to generate a
preliminary differential, workup, and appropriate treatment strategy. I was not new to dealing with
complexity, but the pace of management decisions was overwhelming. In scattered rapid fire shorthand, alarming messages began to accumulate faster than I could answer or remember about
families losing patience and demanding answers, blood pressures sky rocketing, blood pressures
plummeting, IVs no longer working, essential labs gone missing, meds being refused, blood and
pus exploding from anatomic minefields, incomplete Altas Shrugged sized discharge instructions,
stalled hostage negotiations for analgesics, mind boggling fever spikes, serious chest pain followed
by even more serious shortness of breath, terrifying Night of the Living Dead Zombie agitation
and delirium, and crazy stalker harassment from pharmacy questioning medication orders. As I
scrambled, breathless and unable to keep up, twisting mind and body into painful string theory
dimensions, the pager unforgivingly flashed: new admission. While looking through a stack of
illegible hand-written transfer records more cryptic then a Faulkner novel on the new patient from
an outside facility, the overhead intercom and my pager simultaneously signaled code blue,
sending me panicked in a new direction, with a Hiroshima mushroom cloud of paper slowly rising
and settling on the floor to mark the end another brave soul.
Patient: Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
Doctor: As the evening continued for my patients in the rhymes and stanzas of a two centuries old
poem written by a romantic losing life and limb to Tuberculosis and the sky transformed with
thundering fireworks into surreal shades reminiscent of Van Goug hs Starry Night, I worked
frantically to keep things from falling apart, slowly discovering new means both within and
without. Out of forced necessity - this baptism by fire - my brain and hands began to work faster,
while good old-fashioned triage and multi-tasking filled in the gaps. Help in the form of good-will
began to trickle-in from some of the other on-call interns who seemed to be encountering the same
obstacles on a mad dash through long corridors of the hospital. The night-float senior resident who
also shared overnight responsibilities on the floors began to check-in every hour to answer my
accumulating list of questions and prioritize the essential tasks to be completed before
sunrise. Many of the seasoned nurses, well aware of the calendar month and the start of the new
training cycle, were quick to offer workable solutions and didnt hesitate to double check decisions
with the more senior resident. When there was occasional downtime, I managed to flip through the
various references lining my overflowing pockets to broaden the differential diagnosis and ensure
an adequate workup to guide treatment plans for the new admissions. Fresh colleagues coming in
at dawn were a sight for my weary blood-shot eyes. Downing two cups of hot coffee
during morning sign-out and sneaking two more during bedside rounds, I felt the tension in my
muscles begin to ease and my eyelids start to droop as the burden shifted onto more wakeful minds
and less tired shoulders.

50

Patient: And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid
Doctor: Looking back I can certainly see the unfortunate potential for mistakes arising from
inexperience and exhaustion, like a lighted match close to puddles of evaporating gasoline, but I
still have a certain faith in the process; the kind that comes from clairvoyant hindsight in knowing
certain safe-guards exist, along with the continuing foresight of residency programs in making
necessary improvements on behalf of new trainees and patient safety. Young doctors and their
patients have been faithful partners in the practice of medicine at teaching hospitals for
generations and have come through for the most part in fine fashion. In essence, the pressure
cooker environment of call eliminates a young doctors inefficiencies both minor and major and
serves to focus the thought process while increasing endurance and sharpening clinical judgment.
The camaraderie that naturally develops during the long hours spent on-call also strengthen into
collegial bonds that are later relied upon in this era of sub-sub-sub specialized medicine.
Patient: It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
Doctor: And so it was me, on the following morning, the dumbstruck tired intern once again
stumbling out the closed iron trap doors of the hospital into the blinding sunshine wondering
where I parked and how Id survive and manage to keep my patients alive over the next twelve
months. A passing thought that perhaps other fledgling interns in Julys past, prese nt, and future
have had and will continue to have the same stomach churning sensation and yet somehow live to
tell the tale provided some reassurance. In a post-call haze I had tantalizing visions of journey
ahead with upbeat Taylor Swift sing along milestones and the flipside with Led Zepplin head
banging guitar strumming setbacks and someone older and wiser in the years to come writing that
things eventually get easier as familiarity and comfort with the hospital environment and the
management of acute and chronic ailments continue along the inevitable path. Instinctively I
understood the best chance for success was to approach with a generous amount of dedication
especially on those crazy nights; trust in the blind merits of the process especially on those
difficult nights - and on the following July it turned out to be me enjoying in the celebration, albeit
with a few gray hairs to mark the sleepless nights.
Both patient and doctor: I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
for Mom and Dad

Copyright 2016 by Upendra Maddineni

51

52

Titanium

The two titanium rods in my legs, the tape measure I invariably wear on my belt, and my brains
crackling synapses conspired to give me the appearance of a dangerous terrorist. The airport
security personnel responded with alacrity. They re-broke my femurs to remove the rods, and
pounded them on a steel guard rail in support of their thesis that the rods were pig iron, not
titanium at all.
I lay on the floor in helpless agony, protesting that I would not have pig iron in my body, that I was
a Jew and kept kosher.
They ripped the tape measure from my belt, snipped it into short pieces, and wrapped them around
their heads like marathoners headbands. They tore off my Timex to destroy my sense of space and
time.
My brains synapses crackled like bacon, which was consistent with their pig iron thesis. There are
elephants, there are donkeys. You are a Pig.
When I was a teenager, Id used the word pig to degrade L.A. cops, as in Joni Mitchells lyric, Ill
even kiss a Sunset pig, so the irony of the pigs calling me a Pig was ferocious.
I was finally released. Crippled, disoriented, heaped with insults, I returned to my messy abode.

Copyright 2016 by Mitchell Grabois

53

54

Oceans, Fucking Oceans

Oceans, fucking oceans,

And not a good poem about them to be seen.
Ive read over a hundred poems about water
Submitted to my magazine.
They all relate water to grief, renewal, rebirth, yadda yadda
Blah blah blah
Just give it a rest!
I dont care if you went dancing on their glamorous shining waves
I dont care if your tears poured out into the ocean of grief and made you feel better
I dont care how long you looked at yourself in its reflection and contemplated your life
Find a new metaphor in your poetry, for water and oceans are overdone.
Give me something new, something exciting, something I havent seen before
Give me passion, give me emotion, dont give me another fucking seafloor
Leave the water to nature, poets, and just let it be
Go find another great simile
Just oceans, fucking oceans, everywhere
And not a good poem about them to be seen.

Copyright 2016 by Rachel Head

55

56

Questionable Advice for Freedom

You have to peel your

fingernails out one by one,
pry them out with the knife of words
and learn to walk with pulsing, bleeding fingers.
You have to plant your feet
on the burning grill of the day
and feel each second tattooed itself into you.
You have to chop off enough to live.

Copyright 2016 by Valentina Cano

57

58

Adrian Nill Turned Twenty

Adrian Nill turned twenty in a loud sweaty bar near Perpignan and celebrated drinking several
bottles of Kronenbourg, then slunk back to his youth hostel muttering and tried to jack off until he passed
out. (This occurred well before cell phones.) Sick to his stomach, unable to straighten all the way up, he
began thumbing north the next morning, then spent the ensuing decade explaining how he had once been
but no longer was a file clerk, shipping department processor, research assistant, pot scrubber, sensitivity
trainer, burglar alarm monitor, dishwasher, office temp, scriptwriter, prep cook, poet, poker hustler,
lecturer or waiter. The only thing thats ever stuck, he confessed to a stranger sitting next to him on a bus
drifting through the middle of nowhere, the only smart thing I did, I learned how to touch type. Forty
words a minute. The man looked out to the cornfields, snorted and took his time saying, Well, you must be
quite the embarrassment to your family, son. This is what else Adrian Nill did in his twenties: cultivated a
long tangly beard, said yes to almost every suggestion, got married outdoors at a country club in flowing
white robes, wandered through abandoned downtown streets with a camera around his neck and bent to
take close ups capturing parking meters, trash and cracks in the pavement, knotted up a tie and knocked on
doors in suburban developments pleading with residents to at least consider voting Democratic, darted
around concrete courts with warped metal nets brandishing a tennis racket, gave up meat, took the
gonorrhea cure, ran out of money in the Rockies trying to get cross country, jogged to the library in searc h
of some essential truth almost every day for a year followed by snarling dogs, squinted over microfilm in
airless windowless cubicles, ventured out on regular midnight brownie runs, mastered the art of pressure
cooking, did a brief stint substitute teaching, blurted to anyone whod listen how incredibly lucky he felt,
divorced, submitted to counseling, attended one long slow paced workshop run by men in corduroy sports
coats after another, drank whatever was around, mailed old schoolmates inchoate mystical political
manifestos, read up on macrobiotics, hung around the OTB office hoping to pick up a hot tip or two, and ate
as much hashish as he could lay his hands on. Why lucky? To have survived driving unconscious, playing
cards in basements with the wrong people, walking through a snowstorm more than once with no jacket,
disparaging the IQ of other peoples girlfriends, picking up a pony-tailed hitchhiker with a fresh scar on his
cheek who was either mute or just refused to talk but kept cleaning his nails with a knife, hiding with the
lights out while some womans wacko ex-boyfriend pounded on the door and shouted I know youre in
there, taking pills without any idea what they were, and dropping fettucine alfredo on a bouffant hairdo
before running out the back door during his first shift at a Mafia-connected restaurant. Lucky because he
could not stop pursuing girls with a wild streak, girls who made up their own names and expounded theories
involving numbers, the stars and the moon, but he did feel unaccountable gratitude after each one dumped
him. Also because he initiated conversations with erratic characters who carried weapons, trying with all
due respect to convince them their ideas made no sense. He dozed off in class, got put on suspension, was
given another chance and had a hyperventilating panic attack in the midst of a presentation hed prepared
on the root causes of the American Revolution. (It had started without incident but when someone asked an
irrelevant question, Adrian lost his place in the script, began rambling, and dropped his glasses, after which
the overhead lighting triggered a total meltdown). The day he turned thirty he had nothing in the bank, no
friends and no real plans. He celebrated with a bottle of red Graves, experienced another episode and, after
his palpitations subsided, began work on a manuscript entitled, Confessions of Adrian Nill, or It All Went Too
Fast.

Copyright 2016 by AN Block

59

60

Terrible Land
We should get out of here. Lets not try to figure out
if these messages in graffiti were meant for us. The
decomposing grey of the late afternoon sky, the broken
street, the sickened sun the harrowed remainder;
debris of a once glorious day.
We should leave now. Lets look at things realistically,
like we did in Torpalas when newspapers were an agile
threat. In autumn, we met on the street one perilous
morning; dusk had walked there, but that dusk is
gone. In a terrible land, there is nothing left to dispute.

Copyright 2016 by Richard King Perkins

61

62

Post-Mortem

This is what happens when you die. You rise out of your body and hover over yourself, just like those
people who claim theyve come back always say. But they couldnt really know that. Its just a dream or
theyre making it up. Once youre up there, believe me, theres no going back. Still its just like they say and
for the first time you see yourself in the flesh. And believe me, what you see isnt pretty. Your color is awful
and the stillness is really unnerving. You dont see the person that everyone knew as you. Muscles that never
once relaxed finally let go and your face settles into itself. Or it gets frozen in your last expression and you
look angry or surprised, or even happy. And yet, floating up there you cant get enough of it. Morbid
fascination forces you to study the shoulders, the wrists and fingers, but you keep coming back to the face.
How it looked sort of like that after a night of hard drinking. How much you resemble your Uncle Louie.
Your own face will make you cry. Not to worry, youll get over it.
Assuming, of course, you HAVE a face. My own met the grille of a southbound Peterbilt, then the radiator,
fan, and trucker in passing. Death was said to be instantaneous, which it was, to suggest painless, which it
was not. Mercifully, I couldnt see, what with the crushed front end and all the flames, but I caught a glimpse
of the dashboard melting and something that looked like it might be my hand. I remember thinking how can
this be? I had my freaking seat belt on!
So I never had the chance to study my corpse, but most do and it can spook you.
The end is upsetting under any circumstances. You can follow whats going on, the doctors bad jokes, the
priest babbling, the coroner discussing his golf game. And you see right away that the world wont miss a
beat without you. Life goes on, you watch it happen. The kids go home and turn on the television. The wife
gives away your clothes. Before you know it theres no trace of you left.
So theres a lot of trauma, but then it hits you. Youre still around. Not physically, of course, or you
wouldnt be hovering, but essentially. Thats right. I know it sounds spooky and its hard to explain, but
youre still intact. Your thinking is clear and you can see better than you have in a long time. Not with your
eyes, which, in most cases continue to stare up vacantly, but with your whole self! You have the same
feelings and the same basic outlook, but you feel sharper, better able to focus.
Its funny how some people respond to this. My own reaction was dumbstruck amazement. Good Christ, I
thought as the gas tank exploded, there is an afterlife and it starts like this. Hovering. Exactly like the guy on
Dateline said! This meant the religions of the world were right all along! There is a God! A quick review of my
life revealed nothing damning. I hadnt killed anybody or done more than my share of irreparable harm. The
impure thoughts might pose a problem, but all things considered Id behaved decently. With any luck at all I
was headed for my eternal reward! A heady thought when you think about it, lifes problems forever behind
you. No more pain or sickness. No more wondering when the end will come. The thing about being dead is
you no longer have to die. Youre home free, right?
Well that last part is true enough. Death is permanent. All of you who think youll come back as a
butterfly or a bell pepper, forget about it. Once its done you cant undo it. The rest is pure malarkey. If there
is a God Ive seen no sign of Him and Ive been here since 1998. No God, no heaven or hell, no final judgment
or eternal damnation. You stay right here, disembodied but conscious. You cant affect anything, but you can
observe and a lot of what you see will curl your toes, figuratively speaking.
You cant fly. You cant time travel. You cant see into the hearts of men. But you can absorb and retain
knowledge. Think about that for a minute. Like everything else, death is a learning experience, an
opportunity to broaden your horizons. You want to know how the internal combustion engine works? Just
slip inside and see for yourself. You always wondered what the Queen of England eats for breakfast? Heres
your chance to find out. Not too clear on the theory of relativity? Drop in on Professor Howells Einstein
Seminar up at MIT. The man is a marvel. True, youll never be able to apply what you learn, but you will see
the world in a different light. And youll make connections no mortal could ever make. Take my wo rd. Once
63

youve unlocked the mysteries of those Easter Island statues youll know more about ah, but then Id spoil
it for you.
Anyway, youll see.
I know what youre thinking. How is it you can hover if you cant fly? I was referring to flying in the
traditional sense, a means of transport involving locomotion and aerodynamics. Its a lovely notion and
given the chance most would jump at it, but the dead are not bound by the laws of physics. To move you
must first take up space. We have no mass so we have no real presence. Not to say were stationary. After all,
what kind of afterlife would it be stuck in one spot forever? In truth, you can be anywhere your heart
desires. No ones sure exactly how this works, but it does work. Its not movement so much as a sudden
change of location. Sort of like the transporter on the Starship Enterprise, but faster and without the fizzy
stuff.
The hovering is just a reflex. Its not like you slip out of your body and rise like a helium balloon. Youre
just suddenly up there. You do it because you can.
So you dont take up space but you do take up time. Eternity is eternal, but its still a day-by-day
proposition. Theories abound as to why this is so. Some propose that we are linked to the chronology of the
living. Others see time as the essence of being, without it all things cease to exist. Since we exist in time but
cannot affect it theres a tendency to complain. All this time but what do we do with it? And what will
become of us? If death couldnt make us cease to exist, what could? A few still cling to belief in a Supreme
Being, one content to let us puzzle it out for a few billion years before He tallies the score. While no one can
disprove this most dismiss it as a post mortem pipe dream. It makes sense for a God to conceal himself from
the living, but the dead have no further use for salvation.
So you see, it was never about good and evil.
And while were debunking myths, let me throw in another. Theres no such thing as ghosts. Never was,
never will be. In the first place, if one of us found a way to reveal their self, dont you think hed pass it
along? Who of us wouldnt want to console our friends or confound our enemies? Death is natures way of
severing contact completely. Its afterlife as a spectator sport. Belief in ghosts is just a form of mysticism, as
are those cosmic auras, ectoplasm and religious apparitions? Hokum, all of it.
A few other things bear mentioning. Since people have been dying for a long time and the b ody of
knowledge increases exponentially, we have our share of know-it-alls. You see them all the time off in a
corner spewing philosophy or debating physics. But with no way to utilize or impart information to the
living, what you know has no practical application. This takes a lot of fun out of having all the answers. One
can know more than the next guy but it wont do you a bit of good. Since failure and success are no longer
options, knowledge exists merely to inform. That grand and wonderful spirit of intellect, some have it, most
dont.

OK, then. The adjustments have been made. Youve crossed over, taken stock of the situation and made
your peace with the life you left behind. Whats next?
Naturally the first thing you want to do is go to your funeral. Youve always tried to gauge your place in
the hearts of others and heres the ultimate opportunity. I have to admit, for me it was a revelation. My
closed coffin was wheeled in and I could hear the mortician whispering instructions to his assistants. They
were suitably solemn and, despite the fact that we scarcely knew each other, I was pleased Jerry Walker had
been chosen over the Dinunzio brothers to handle the arrangements. That Al Dinunzio was a pain in my ass,
Jesus, with the pinky ring and the aftershave. For years Jerry hounded me to sponsor a softball team, but I
always managed to put him off. Sorry about that, buddy.

64

Eileen arrived shortly thereafter and I have to say she appeared less than devastated. She shook hands
with Jerry and listened while he ran through the program, even smiling at some offhand remark. I wasnt
kidding myself, Eileen and I had grown apart, but Id been a good provider was never once unfaithful, unless
you count that bar maid in San Diego during the appliance convention in 96, which I dont. The poor girl
worked me over for a solid hour without getting a rise.
As the cars started to arrive Jerry left Eileen alone by my casket for a moment of private grieving. I
studied her face for signs of distress, but she seemed more taken by the walnut finish. I tried not to let it
bother me. After all, she had no way of knowing Id be there. It was quite possible shed been in tears for the
past two days and the crying had simply run its course. Ive always been suspicious of the inconsolable but a
sniffle or two would have been nice.
Next came the children, Marcie first, then Bradley and Vern. Poor Vern, the kid looked completely
undone and I thought for a moment hed break down completely. My boys were a disappointment, Ill admit,
but Vern surprised me over the summer by announcing his enrollment in college. Granted it was community
college and hed picked Eastern religion as a major, but I took it as a positive sign. Brad, on the other hand,
was going nowhere fast. The rock band finally ran its course but his job at the video store was turning into a
career. As he stood next to his mother rocking side to side, I noticed a burgundy stain on his tie.
Marcie was weeping, my darling angel, Daddys little girl. Her chin trembled and her eyes were shiny. My
heart went out to her, but then I remembered how shed sobbed for weeks when her cockato o died, and how
the theme from Titanic could open the floodgates.
Viewed through the lens of kinship my family looked more disheveled than distraught. Marcies eye
makeup was running, Brads pants were too short and Vernon gnawed at his lip until it bled. As the church
began to fill, Father Singleton emerged from the sacristy to escort Eileen and the children to their appointed
pew. OK, maybe fill isnt the right word. The official count topped out at 23, including the hearse driver
and the altar boys, a sparse turnout by any measure, made worse in a church the size of Madison Square
Garden.
The real surprise was who didnt show. John Emerick, my next- door neighbor for 27 years begged off with
bad back. OK, I had back problems myself, but sometimes you bite the bullet, Jack. And where the hell was
McGreevey, my old army buddy? You spend three years listening to tales of Salt Lake City and you expect a
little something in return. Of course he probably doesnt know Im dead, but hey, they have telephones in
Utah. I mean what ever happened to esprit de corps?
The service was uneventful, except for the pastor stumbling over a few pertinent details. Thats Fred
padre, not Ed. I left my fair share of shekels on the collection plate. Would it kill you to do a little
homework?
They buried me in the new cemetery out by the toll bridge, this, despite my stated preference for the old
one up on the hill, or barring that, cremation. The new cemetery is roomy enough, but I worried about
traffic and pollution and those goddamn jet skis out on the river. What a racket! In my heart I yearned for an
urn, something simple but tasteful, lined in satin. I pictured myself above the mantel in the study, facing the
television. Eileen was uncomfortable with the notion, pointing out that the house would eventually go to
strangers with no use for my earthly remains. Considering her affection for the house and her familys
longevity, I figured this was way down the road. By then Id be too far gone to notice.
That she couldnt know your final resting place is of no real consequence did not absolve her. For all she
knew we go through eternity staring up at the underside of a coffin lid. In fact, few of us spend any time
interred. Maybe a few hours just to see what it would be like, but take it from me, once decomposition sets in
its the last place you want to be.
As they lowered me down I studied Eileens face for a reaction. Its a moment that often inspires a
profound feeling of loss and incidents of graveside hysteria are more common than you might think. Not so
with the widow Bartlett. Throughout most of the pastors eulogy she was forced to contend with a flying
65

insect of some kind and between the flicking and the shooing, its doubtful she registered a single word.
Marcie might have lent a note of pathos, but by then her wailing had frayed every nerve. Brads eyes settled
on Ellen Eddelmans bust line and remained there for the duration. Vern seemed consumed by the depth of
the hole, peering cautiously over the edge while he dabbed his lip with a speckled tissue. When it was over
the mourners milled about for a few minutes then gradually peeled off. Only the grounds keeper and the
backhoe operator remained behind.

Not so bad, compared to some, came a voice to my left. Yes, we have voices. Not audible to human ears,
but distinct and directional. More internal than telepathic, if that makes sense. Hell, Ive yet to figure it out
myself, but it makes all the difference, reason and speech, what separates us from the animals.
This particular voice belonged to Rankin. No first name, just Rankin. You know the type, the first guy to
welcome you to the neighborhood, the loser hoping to make a friend. Thats Rankin.
I went to a dozen of these fucking things, I grumbled. Most of my good friends are already dead.
Sure they are. And I suppose all of THEM had previous engagements.
What are you talking about?
Why nothing. Perhaps theyll be along soon.
The dead come to meet you?
Traditionally, but things come up. I wouldnt concern myself.
Well, thats a hell of a thing. What about my parents?
Im afraid Ive yet to have the pleasure.
Jesus Christ! Theyre all up here?
I dont know about up, but if theyve expired theyre definitely here.
I cant believe this! Then who are you?
Im Rankin.
I dont know any Rankin. Why are you here?
I had nothing pressing to do so I thought Id check out the newcomers. Im sure your good friends will be
delighted to see you.
See me? As far as I could tell there was nothing to see. No limbs, no trunk, no head to contain my
disembodied consciousness. I couldnt see Rankin either, though I could sense his presence.
But were invisible, arent we?
Oh, sorry, I saw a brief flicker and there he was. A short, middle age man with thinning hair tied back in
a ponytail. Is that better?
Wow, you can do that at will?
He simply smiled. For dead eyes only. Weve found it helps with the new arrivals. Its an illusion really. In
life I was actually much taller.

66

Rankin filled me in on the details. Since a physical appearance wasnt really necessary most chose to go
without. This was fine with me. My body had never been anything special and not having to tend to it would
free me to enjoy my eternal reward.
What about body builders and movie stars? I wondered. What about those tattooed idiots who go
around in shirtsleeves in the freezing cold?
I said most people. There are those exceptions.
I looked around me. Except for the guys filling in the hole there wasnt a soul in sight.
Is there anyone here besides us? I asked Rankin.
No. But Im sure they all had their reasons. Youll find that when your time is unlimited you lose your
sense of urgency. What you dont get around to today you can always do tomorrow.
But Ive been here three days! Youd think someone would come, my mom, or Uncle Leo. Hey, what about
my dog?
Rankin shook his head. Sorry, no pets allowed up here.
Wait a minute, a thought occurred to me. If most people dont have an appearance, how can you know
theres no one here?
You dont have to see them to know, Ed is it?
Fred, Fred Bartlett. Two ts, like the pear.
You see, Fred, very quickly youll develop the ability to perceive. Not in a physical sense, but intuitively.
In no time at all itll be second nature, another faculty, essentially.
And the others. I can talk to them?
Until youre blue in the face.
So far everything sounded OK. You were conscious, you could communicate with others. You had no sense
of urgency. Pretty much like life except for the urgency and the pet restrictions.
Tell me something, do you have a home? I asked him. I mean do you live somewhere?
A home? Well, I spend most of my time in the area here, but a fixed address? I cant imagine what for.
I dont know. Where do you keep your stuff?
Stuff is pretty useless here.
Where do you spend the night?
Me, personally? Well last night I was at the symphony until the Bartok concerto, then I listened to Joshua
Bell describe his childhood to a young admirer over drinks at Ritz.
New York?
Buenos Aires. The acoustics are first rate.
I let this sink in for a minute.
Let me get this straight, uh, Rankin. That means I could, oh, I dont know, spend the night at Nicole
Kidmans house if I wanted to.
67

Well. right now shes shooting in Mexico, but they should be wrapping it up in a few days.
I gave him a look. So youre into the celebrities, eh?
I used to think my interest would wane, but apparently not.
Celebrities, sheeesh, my Marcie knew more about the Hollywood love life rotation than she knew about
her own family. It didnt seem fair that fame would follow after you. Stardom should have a shelf life,
privilege shouldnt be permanent, and if fame is forever, what about obscurity?
So, tell me, hows Elvis these days?
Dead celebrities have a place all their own, Rankin explained. The rest of us cant get there from here.
Some things dont change very much.
Rankin smiled. Thats why I prefer the live ones.
The noon whistle blew and the work crew broke for lunch. Rankin and I watched them trundle down the
hill as the drone of jet skis settled over the graveyard.

The grim circumstances surrounding my death were of little interest to the bulk of the departed,
understandable, given the permutations. At first I felt slighted by the lack of interest. After all, my life had
been cut off in its prime. I was healthy and productive and my prospects were rosy. But life isnt fair and
neither is death. Compared to some, mine was a walk in the park. Rankin, for instance, crushed by Panzer
tank at Tripoli.

I found mom and dad back in Hackensack. They were staying at our old house while the old man made the
transition, six years now, but in heaven whos counting?
You were driving too fast, as usual, mom scolded me after a kiss on the cheek. I wouldnt mention the
accident to your father if I were you. He was furious.
I dont get it, mom. How come nobody was there to meet me?
We thought your Uncle Louie was going. I had to meet Mrs. Feller.
Im your son! Mrs. Feller wasnt even related.
Honey, shes 85 years old! It was her dying wish that I meet her.
What about dad? Jesus, its not like I was coming home from college for a few days!
Your father had his heart set on the Masters. Besides, you had your friend here.
Hes not my friend. I never met him until today!
Rankin winced. Im afraid he thought the reception would be bigger,
I could feel the looming presence of my father.
You were speeding, genius. A half a mile an hour slower and that truck would have missed you.
Hello dad. How was Augusta?

68

Never mind Augusta, whos the hippy?

Thats Rankin, he was just leaving.
Listen to me, lead foot, the old man growled. You left things a mess back there. Those two boys of
yours are headed down the road to ruin. You were always too busy to give them what they need.
Which is?
Discipline! mom and I mouthed the word along with him. Kids these days need direction. I might not
have been the worlds best dad, but by God my kids were disciplined.
Thats right dad. You could still bounce a quarter off my bed.
I see those boys on the weekends driving around doing drugs and I just want to spit!
Kids do drugs, I shrugged. I didnt make the rules.
Thats the trouble! Parents today let the kids raise themselves. No wonder they cant read or write. Wait
until they have to earn a living. Hah! The middle one hasnt been awake before noon in months.
His name is Brad, dad, I looked to Rankin who seemed to be enjoying this. Brad just needs to find
himself.
Hell find himself on the street if hes not careful. Youd never catch my kids doing that cocaine.
Actually, I was quite the fiend in my day.
Walking around with their pants falling down, what the hell is that anyway?
Mom stifled a groan. Oh Earl, this is supposed to be a happy day. Why must you always be such a
grouch?
Thats right, gang up on me. I offer a little fatherly advice and right away Im the bad guy.
Well, at least I never hit my kids, I gave him my best shot.
See? Whatd I tell you? Hes here five minutes and already hes throwing that in my face. Like everybody
wasnt doing it. Jesus Christ, give a kid a little slap these days and you find yourself in court.
Enough! mom snapped. I told myself we could forgive and forget, but you two are impossible. Earl?
Oh dear, your fathers gone off somewhere.
The hell with him. If he thinks he can bully me through eternity hes got another thought coming.
Oh Freddy, moms face went soft and pink. He just wanted what was best for you. He was only human,
you know.
Yeah well, sometimes when I think back I get so angry I could scream.
Your dads right about one thing, Fred, Rankins voice seemed to come from a great distance. Youre
taking your childhood out of its historical context.
Jesus, will you please butt out?
Mom took my arm and led me into our former dining room. Hardwood floors had replaced the old
carpeting. The walls were a dull rust color trimmed in light gray. The only furniture was an exercise
machine and an upright piano.
69

Youll like the Caldwells, Freddy. Theyre a young couple from the South. Charleston, I believe. I just love
those genteel accents.
Not much on decorating, are they?
The husband, George, just got a promotion. Georgiana had designers in all last week. I cant wait to see
what they came up with.
George and Georgiana? Sure theyre not from Georgia?
No Charleston. Im sure of it. Its in the Carolinas. I can never remember which one.
The Caldwells were in the living room watching Seinfeld reruns. Two young boys bored out of their skulls,
mom on the cell and dad out cold in his Lazy Boy. We passed right though them on the way to the stairs.
Wait till you see what hes done to the attic. I was always after your father to renovate, but I had no idea
what you could do with that space.
Listen mom, hold up for a second.
She turned to face me. The light caught a fine web of wrinkles and her body looked thin and shapeless. I
didnt want to see what some stranger had done to our attic. I wanted my mother to talk to me.
Did you miss me?
Of course, Freddy dear, she looked surprised. Naturally, I could see you whenever I wanted to, but I
missed our little chats.
I wish I could have spent more time with you in the hospice, but things were so hectic.
I know, she smiled her forgiveness. Im afraid I wasnt too with it there towards the end.
Are you happy here?
Its funny about happiness, Freddy. So much of it is based on things of a temporal nature, she rubbed
the ends of her hair with her fingertips, a thing she did when she was feeling self-conscious. Life is
transitory. What makes happiness so special is we know it cant last. Does that make sense?
Coming from someone else, possibly, but my mother was as likely to voice such a thing as she was to
break into a tango.
Who told you that? I demanded.
Mom lowered her eyes and blushed. Youll laugh.
No, tell me. It might help.
Well, Ive been reading up on Buddhism, Hindu, of course Confucius, she gazed off, as if reading a
teleprompter.
But Rankin said there is no God.
Well, no. But the precepts of most religions are still valid.
Valid? I cried. Mom, listen to me. If you polled everyone as to how they got here religion would head
the list.
Her eyes shimmered with concern. Not religion, Freddy, people. At the core, all religion asks of us is to
be good. It is and will always be a noble concept.
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This is unbelievable! My mom the Buddhist! That just wouldnt happen.

Its really your fault, you know. Remember Doris? mom stiffened as the Caldwell boys bounded past and
up the stairs.
Doris? Robertson? Shes dead? I hadnt seen Doris since we dated in high school.
No, not for years yet, but she would stop by now and again after you moved away. We would talk. She
was always going on about Buddha and that little guru whats his name. The Perfect Master?
Doris was a fruitcake, mom! She thought the moon was made of green cheese.
I know, but it always made me wonder. The strange things people believe. I thought I might look into it
when I had the time.
So how do you read with no hands? Huh?
Oh, thats easy. You just slip between the pages.
Oh come on, it must be pitch dark in there.
Mom looked puzzled for a second. I suppose it is. It just doesnt seem to be a problem here. You should
ask your friend, Mr. Rankin about that.
Its just Rankin, mom. One name, like Liberace.
Yes, well. Its probably very easy to explain. I just she seemed to lose her place for a moment, then
brightened into a smile. Anyway, how do you feel about all this?
This? This is all a dream. Ill just pinch myself and wake up home in bed.
Think of it as a chance to get to know yourself, Freddy.
Dont mom.
Back in the living room the lights clicked off as the Caldwell clan called it a night. First the cat, then the
Misses and finally dad, after peeing in the kitchen sink.

The next evening my father and I surveyed the grounds and I found him as badly disposed to the
hereafter as he had been to the here and now.
Theres nothing to do! he kicked at a clump of dandelions. Look at this! When I lived here there wasnt
a weed on the property.
How can you think of weeds when you have the whole world at your fingertips?
He looked at me like I was crazy. What fingertips? The other day I saw a ten dollar bill lying on the
sidewalk and I couldnt pick the damn thing up!
We stopped at the spot where he used to pitch me whiffle balls. I could see where the spirit world might
be a problem for him.
You can see the things you always wanted to. What about the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown?
What a gyp! he snarled Those plaques are half the size I thought theyd be. You know what they get for
a hot dog up there?
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What do you care? You cant eat.

Its the idea. What are you paying for gas these days?
You should try to be happy, Pop.
Doing what?
Widening your horizons. Cultivating interests.
Listen for a minute, will you? he looked at me like I just might. You know me, right? Im a hands-on
guy. Stick me someplace where I cant fiddle around with things.
You were never handy, dad.
He recoiled and I felt myself wilt. We were doing what wed always done in the years since mom died.
Whatever was wrong between us might someday be resolved, but I wondered if eternity would be long
enough.
Mom appeared suddenly beside me.
Dont trouble yourself, Freddy dear. You have all the time in the world to work things out.
But the world will end someday, I pointed out. What then?
There will be other worlds. Life is a work in progress.
So this is the first world.
Yes, my mother nodded.
Then forever has a beginning.
Everything has to have a beginning, dad scowled.
But everything that begins must end! Its implied!
By who? they asked as one.
My mother gave a glance to my father.
Death never ends, he leveled with me.
It was a lot to take in. Unless I wanted to end up like dad I was going to have to find a way to occupy
myself. Id had a number of lifetime pursuits, but nothing that could carry over. Golf was out and
pornography held no further interest. For the first time since childhood the future seemed limitless and,
once again, I had no clue what to do with it.
There is one thing Ive become partial to here, my father said, as if reading my mind. You ever watch
that NASCAR?
Thats another thing. Why does everyone say here like its a different place? I gestured to our vaguely
familiar surroundings. We havent gone anywhere.
My father pondered this for a minute. How else could you put it?
A good point, I suppose, but it gave the word a creepiness it never had before.

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In the years since Ive gone the usual route. The celebrity fixation (it cant be helped), looking up
ancestors, spying on friends, the dead celebrity fixation (there is a way to get there from here. Rankin was
kidding). Of course, travel keeps me busy. Ive seen the pyramids along the Nile, watched the sunrise on a
tropic isle and next summer Im spending July on the rings of Saturn. On a personal note, my daughter
Marcie ran away from home and is presently living with performance artist in the Red Bank. My wife had a
brief fling with Emerick, but broke it off when he got too clingy. Vern has followed his grandmother into the
Far Eastern fog while Dave the deadbeat cycles in and out of detox. Granted its not what I would have
chosen for any of them, but in the end what does it matter?
And yes, Im seeing someone. A former birthing coach from Seattle I met last New Years on K2. Like me,
Nancys an old film buff and avid globetrotter. On our first date we took in a Hitchcock double feature in
Athens with Greeks subtitles. Funny thing is, without the pressures of sex and physical affection you can
concentrate on the important things. Communication really is the key.

So, there you have it, death in a nutshell. Theres nothing to fear and everything to learn. You can see the
world or not. Fame is enduring but fortune isnt a factor. Time is on your side. Youll find that your father
hasnt changed a bit while your mother is not the woman you thought she was. You can watch TV.
And since, through some mutant cyber synapse, youve crossed wires with the afterlife, youre the very
first to know.
Try laying it on the living and see how far it gets you.

Copyright 2016 by Thomas Larsen

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THE GREAT OAKLAND FLOOD OF 2015

We are drowning in mustache wax bemoaned the grizzled bohemianwho was being flippant of course,
but the truth was that several suspiciously smooth petroleum spillages had been noted on 41st street
between Broadway and Telegraph and more than a few stragglers not all of them bearing the Y
chromosome mutationhad been witnessed scooping little finger-fuls of the stuff and twirling it into
their cookie dusters just so.
I wouldnt say we were drowning in the stuff yet, but I worry that we are leaning in the direction of an
unfortunate tanker truck accident that might leave the entire 19 th street corridor permanently
amberized, a future archeological museum where tourists can see how early 21 st century gentrifiers
were going about their lives in a perfectly preserved state.
Just the other day, one of Jack Kerouacs thirty seven thousand bastard children walked up to me
outside the avowedly blue collar, vaguely socialist book salon and started rapping to me about which
Tom Waits song would be the perfect soundtrack to my life.
I needed to reach into my helplessly vulnerable intellect to explain to this unibrowed souse that Im
not really into Tom Waits, like Im not against him and Im sure hes cool and all, but as I dont listen
to his music all that much, none of his songs would really resonate for my life arcs you know?
But oh no fuck no I have to understand that EVERYONEs life can somehow be encapsulated into one
of Tom Waits songs because thats the kind of weight that goes along with being a Tom Waits
aficionado (or at least this one) and surely there is one of his fucking songs that fits my life.
And then I realized that this is exactly what it feels like to be intellectually colonized, or what it feels
like to be brosplained to or what it feels like to be SATURATED by some desperate poseurs context,
even though I understand these things on paper, it may not be possible to truly understand them
until they actually happen to you.
And my city has become saturated with this. Thinking about it a bit more now, the Great Oakland
Mustache Wax Flood of 2015 is beginning to feel like the least of our subscriptions.

Copyright 2016 by Paul Corman-Roberts

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Excuse Me I Hate to Ask

On the BART train, Im writing in my journal when I hear a voice behind me. Excuse me.
Yes?
Its a young pudgy guy dressed in black. Excuse me, I hate to ask, but do you do a lot of
yearning?
Yearning? I repeat. I think, of course, Im a poet, yearning is all I do. But I wonder if Im
being mocked. Why do you ask? I say.
Because you were staring out the window like you were yearning. He gestures at the
viewseagulls, the stern cranes guarding the shore, the Bay, and beyond, the Pyramid Building
emerging from San Francisco fog.
Well, I suppose, I say. I yearn. And you? Do you yearn much?
Uh, no, he says. He wrinkles his nose like Ive said something weird, which I have, and
then the man who does not waste his youth pining and longing and gazing out windowshe stuffs
his earbuds back in his head. He slumps in his seat and returns his attention to his tiny phone.

Copyright 2016 by Colleen McKee

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Affection

I remember being thirteen and coming up from the depths of our backyard pool after holding my
breath longer than any human being ever had. I expelled my lungs dead air, inhaled forcefully, and
put my forearm down on the pool deck, right on a bees upraised stinger. I watched my arm
speedily swell to four times its normal size. When I went in to show my mother, she had an anxiety
attack and my father had to drive her to the hospital, me in the back seat, proud of my Popeye
forearm until my throat began to close.
By the time we made the emergency room, I couldnt breathe. I fell down in the lobby and began to
turn blue. Nurses and doctors ran to where I lay, and my father cried, Its her, not him!

So I became someone who craves affection.

I kissed the woman who slices lunch meat at King Soopers. She shoved smoked turkey at me,
leaned away, and called: Next!
I kissed my doctor. Id been wanting to do it since she first told me to stick out my tongue and
complemented me on its smoothness and the elegance of my taste buds. I kissed her and she asked,
On a scale of one to ten, how have you been feeling this week? I kissed her again. Have you been seeing or
hearing things that arent really there? I kissed her a third time. Have you been feeling suicidal or
homicidal?I kissed her more deeply, really sent the tongue to a remote locale. Do you have access to
weapons? I said: How can you ask me that after everything weve been through?
She called Security. Security knew me from the days when I was a high school football star and
amateur boxer and cage fighter who went by the moniker Destructo. They were afraid of me. They
called the cops and warned them: Be sure to bring your stun guns, your billy clubs and chemical
weapons.
The first cop who entered the roomI kissed her. She yelled FREEZE! Hands where I can see them! Get
down on your knees!
I happily complied.

Copyright 2016 by Mitchell Grabois

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Penelope Learns to Keep Time

Its secret is perched on the point of an arrow

fleeing from the tightest wooden ribcage
and on the beater
pressing crimped, crease colored thread down.
It glitters in the air within the mouth of hoops
and in the space between warp threads.
In the crackling of the dying fire.
In the rising horizon of lapping colors.
In the longest day rowing itself to a stop.

Copyright 2016 by Valentina Cano

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7 a.m., Columbus St.

San Francisco
In the park, under Benjamin Franklins
bronze, beneficent gaze,
ancient Chinese
instruct the merely old
Chinese how to do tai chi:
creaky elbows
gather in fog,
creaky knees
push the fog back.

Copyright 2016 by Colleen McKee

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The Bicycle Review # 32 was edited and curated by

Rhea Adri
J de Salvo
Robert Louis Henry
Anna Mahrer

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