David E. Howerton… –You’re what I scream about–

Posted on February 28, 2016 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

–You’re what I scream about–

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Copyright © 2016 by David E. Howerton

M.A. Schaffner… Antocracy

Posted on February 21, 2016 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

Antocracy

Nothing upon the grasshopper’s back more

than the resentment of ants, their taxes

ever squeezing out empathy for others

who earned their pensions the old fashioned way

chewing leaves all summer while the scouts crept

slowly back to the city, laboring

like scarabs under their burdens of dung,

all for the drones and the queen’s monopoly

on breeding and leisure. It’s not enough

to suffer such a dull career, you must

blame those who have the freedom of the fields

as if they were the ones who made you ants,

and the queen were some wise benefactress

giving you a job and proxy future.

You have no future, and no options now

if you believe you really need a queen.

M. A. Schaffner has had poems published in Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner, Agni, Poetry Ireland, Poetry Wales, and elsewhere. Other writings include the poetry collection The Good Opinion of Squirrels, and the novel War Boys. Schaffner spends most days in Arlington, Virginia or the 19th century.

Copyright © 2016 by M. A. Schaffner

Linda M. Crate… I Want to Break You

Posted on February 14, 2016 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

i want to break you

i want to break you into all the hearts

you shattered, and slam your

spaceship into saturn

make you dizzy on her rings;

and then when you think it can’t get any worse

have jupiter’s eye swallow you whole—

you have little regard for anyone’s emotions

except your own,

and you utter lies of insincerity and play

mind games that are dizzying and cruel and so

i want to rid the world of your presence

no one deserves to be broken into all the stained

glass pieces that you shattered my heart

into—

you fancied yourself a wolf,

but wolves are loyal;

you’re just a dishonest fox that hasn’t grown into his

fur yet,

and i hope a hunter skins you for your hide

because as beautiful as it is your soul and heart are blacker

than obsidian or coal;

if you thought you were going to crash my ship

submerge my body until i drowned so you could steal my dreams

think again—

like a phoenix i rose from my ashes

maybe one day heaven will let me burn you.

Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press – June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon – January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic was published in March 2015.

George Freek… Hymn

Posted on February 7, 2016 by randomlyaccessedpoetics

HYMN (After MEI YAO CHEN)

I hear a blue jay scream

from a nearby tree.

His mate believes

they are hosannas,

thrilled by such a

sweet melody.

Perhaps it resembles

what we call poetry.

I can’t see a breeze,

but I feel it as it

ruffles the leaves.

My wife is dead,

but I feel she’s beside me,

when I return to bed.

I can’t say I know.

I only pray it is so.

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Monthly Archives: February 2016