5 poems || Vernon Frazer

One Way Mirrored

thematic diaphragm

          left in the cleft bucket surging

                    epaulettes on the pragmatic

vintage` latent

billionaire vignette   surcharge

balloon                                            vigor

      schematic

for a canned filibuster

    no     aching at the margin

semiotic 

 pillar ascribed       contextual dismay

     circuit   charger         burst

                described                      insolent

         fire through the foreworn dwelling

*

no scheme left pillar climb

a room unhatched the rooftop

    under the piling

left empty guests churning the vacancy pit

     turning the spittoon roast

     to the scalawag vexation bluster

    borrowed thematics 

           burning a non-issue 

the cost a rigor flask 

left behind the epithet burner

            unmasking 

the thread

 of an elite montage

*

questions left unasked

received no furthering

     at most  an empty

 declaration                designation

left its context

       meaning

     eventual displays chart

          swelling the new task

        before asking whether

empathy snatchers enlarge their bluster stake

 Cold Showering

allow quickened weekdays 

hatchway grinder boat wet labor

     its vain skyline

     lost cohort thongs

rendezvous crevice trademarks

splotched self-starters 

barred generality implosions

     scrotal reflux thickening

     untold backcloth phylum

varied gin machetes

                crying weekdays

crowded foreground clashing

break-in monotones fashioned

     detergent fat

     garners medication liners

pure from seminal additions

rooster passageways limber

fingerprint indiscretions cast 

while breaking the frozen whirlpool threshold

Learning an Old Lesson

wilderness reports weather

unknown sightings whenever

a distant land turned interior

or feral as the nightwatch 

glows emphatic passage rites 

inured to sweat or leaving dawn

before the red comes slowly

rising on a breath entanglement

conundrum flurries while the tempo 

watches arrivals time departure frenzies

leathered expressions darken satchels

pages to game good vandal rages

played inferior composition reams

dazzling on paper not in praxis

left unkept as theorem polish

righting on the water's dredged side

no interest current past shallow

burning mindless passion churned

visceral ambitions turned missionary

as pure position screwed to assure

hologrammatical fashion retorts

whenever inversion strike urges 

righting the ballast tipped its aside

a comic release to unmentioned

particle vipers lack molting swagger

revelations blind the light with

a nightly via negativa fantasia

sex endowed the power rack smelting

beyond the irons of Sumer West

a geography of ore short on folklore

derided the later stages of its demise

their legends go awry in the fielding

awards ceremonial rioting passage

fluent amber succulence grown

limber dancing the darkened light

alluvial rapture streams fork twice

against the organ's wind shriek

cold against the spring's lurid rumor

the runners passed as ammunition

among the border stories crossing

truths when fiction meets the line

milking paradise of metaphor mix

and the circular charm amenities

gathered to shore the sorrow fixates

a link of shame to past inhabitants

where the fueling imprecation flights

churned mustard in filial rumination

left festering dosage learning swerves

direction to equal optic severance

a play whose diction refines meaning

on stilts or bearing up weather candy

while dilettante refusal meat centers

opprobrium returns on a level sled

worn shedding a learning experiment

worth forgetting with irreverent details

Deadening Repetition

Certainly 

the sides of music 

happened quickly 

when the news 

reached residing purposes

and held fast, 

boasting the most 

magnificent city atmosphere.

To allow disclaimers 

passed over frantic coatsleeve 

orders. As loud

as allegro live, 

roared the mark on their proper 

shape,

and hurried away, 

regurgitation inquest coming.

Off the Clock

time hands

bloodless as pineal rapture

cling

  to 

  breathing a carapace

  presence scratching

  itself

         a modular climb 

         stairing the well

         through a curve

ending at its level facing

*

no clarity 

        to moss infection

                                    filtered down 

the

    gumshare       gave     time

     animus to   spread

    atrium clocks

               hammered

 deluxe

echo chimes

or canned luxury atoms

no expiration date

     slated

     to crest

     against a tithing shore

poem || John Pursch

A Juror’s Lonely Lunch Hour

Slow clock linearity adjusts itself with my hands, peeking at futuristic platforms of shoestring roots and subterranean sewing kits, photographed by cyclists on millstone duty clique elopement circuits of an interminably vivacious spinal éclair.

Salivation ceases to impress a logo, frothing at kissed kernels, crossing sidearm fallacies in portfolios of winter car alarms, clanged to wacky beckonings of fecund basement publicans, playing browned gals into nine tight fetters, tied to vapid jacks of shyly kneading trademark swirls in Suleiman’s vitiated slugging gasket.

Pinochle plays on backseat bumps of bucolic roadsters, simpering about wide and misty tergiversation, flipping consonants in continental freakout blasts of sonic assonance gone to didgeridoo and dial-up daylight slavery quotients, hovering into quotidian festivities known only in the most redundantly escutcheoned fakery’s festooned calumny.

Softening to adulterated whimsy, vertices inject a barometric expression of coughed elation at quarterly intervals, pleasing standoffish marigolds with shades of bismuth, freckling a juror’s lonely lunch hour.

text || Marco Giovenale

pagan landscape

 

totally manic compulsive one, quick canine chemical drug, have reported in a survey that the fractions, the permeability values of all drugs were much greater in the human jejunum than in the caco, 1, helena has an inspiration for patriotism, warfarin in humans is eliminated almost entirely as s, however, guengerich, 25, montholon and bertrand wanted the imperial title as royalty were signed by their first names only, and talleyrand, sodium thiopental is always administered intravenously, bone, whereas the plasma of humans, can i op while breastfeeding, on the other hand, but subsequent testing of many harmless species produced the same reaction, it was concluded that a major impediment to bbb penetration of peptides was the energy required to break the water, 1, in rabbits, with many gastrointestinal illnesses, 3′, have compared the binding affinities, 3, the then fashion editor decided that not one of them had the perfect body, and, that it can be expressed as omeprazole 84, the french navy would escape from the british blockades of toulon and brest and threaten to attack the west indies, dotted line indicates normal situation, 000 of his finest troops to battle spanish guerrillas as well as british and portuguese forces commanded by the end of the trip, what i believe in, a nursery rhyme warned children that ravenously ate naughty people, which led to confine himself for months in his damp and wretched habitation of longwood, paris two days after the marriage, mushrooms release a good deal of liquid when heated, brush or wipe them with a damp cloth, hobnobbing with everyone from karl marx to kylie minogue, because subtype is much greater than zero, after he was unceremoniously sacked in may – an allegation she strenuously denies, 0, phenobarbital induces predominately members of the cyp2b subfamily in rats, warfarin, hitler, 86, a fit model – one whose body is used by fashion houses for minute sample, the regiment that often served as his personal escort, or both, α1, shimada et al, one of the fundamental challenges drug metabolism scientists face in drug discovery and development is the extrapolation of risk assessment from animals to humans, fungal, this procedure will also alert us to any allergic sensitivity, they can tell their booker at the agency before they sleep that they only had a salad, bromo, before sleep, long before teatime, i would read some forums, it is generally recommended that they only be used after handwashing or when water is not available, or rare to find, description de l'égypte, 1809.

pome || billy bob beamer

POME hapdapybydarthida

1..mo

       o sem. I nar-t

   . alsel   .  (room open

  ka

 

2-kes te clod.  se

grins.

         nigh.thesneezeis

rozess./ O 

.kes. 

an kl

 

3,e

est

t                e

manuther.    pl uthen. el ote.

rept.almscriwl state nux vomvoy n. exe.

   cu    ant c amp      bl

.moo

poem || Lawrence Upton

MIME #12

Mimes

Polyvocal – see performance note

[Mime a]

overwhelming strength of aspiration

apocalyptic, cannibalistic,

sequence, rapidly disintegrating, awareness

[Mime b]

spontaneity stuck in the past

explorations of counterpoint without compassion

[Mime c]

a sunlit garden in a natural world;

characterised shrewdly and delivered;

receiving widespread systematised bombardment;

apparent emissions, admissions;

disease detected;

level of alarm crushing;

war against the lost and stolen,

outlining contours in surrounding;

securing mood music and general application

[Mime d]

response to surveillance allowing knowledge

to spread defects moving towards benefit

struck by an immoral state

[Mime e]

sun breaks through after a wintry night:

a dull morning with brisk wind;

underlying stone an impression of brightness

Performance note

The subtitles - “Mime a, b, c, c, e” are reference labels and are not uttered; there should just be a long pause between each piece, the five read as one piece.  

The poem is polyvocal, but freely: there are no written parts. It is suggested that there is a 'primary' performer, a leader who starts each mime with other contributors following on, preferably with the primary performer at higher volume than the others. The primary performer will read all the text [but not the labels!].

There may be a different primary performer for each of the five mimes.

The emboldened text might be left for the primary performer(s) alone or for them to complete before contributors follow, i.e. the contributors would read after a delay the length of which is the time it takes the primary performer to read their text. NB Text has been emboldened just for this purpose and that formatting has no other significance if it is not followed in this way.

Contributors may select some or all of the text to read – different contributors may select different text to the others and spread out physically in whatever space is available.

poem || Scott Thomas Outlar

Ask Not

Hyped up for the hyperbolic chamber of commerce data stream reenactment ceremonial procedure to commence in full-fledged abbreviation of canceled out calcification inside the glandular obsolescence of a chakra system pinpointed in the haystack fever as pollen flows swiftly from tree limb hallucinations before going nighty-night and collapsing into sordid dreams about tomorrow’s full course meal plan.

     

Broken bones and turnip songs clash mightily on the edge of a falsified precipice to once and for all find out which of these dangerous concepts has the most oomph behind their boisterous grandiosity of narcissistic braggadocio and which is just whistling Dixie and talking smack that can’t be justifiably backed up.

Gang warfare junkies mount a last ditch comeback on the dilapidated city streets as urbanized ghetto structures of yesteryear collapse to the ground all around in a heap of mournful incongruence.

Pug nosed, pig faced, tick infested, Lyme diseased, acne plagued, pimple scarred, hair lipped, crazy eyed, soulless scoundrels squint at the burning sun and fire off racist rants toward the sky as their ugly sins are brought to light in a red blaze inferno of furious glory.

Why? Toward what purpose? Don’t ask questions. Just flow to the rhythm of the wild-natured insanity as it drifts chaotically from the stream of unknown conscious inhibitions. A masterpiece theater of rotten egg sucking scumbag disillusion. Bravado on the stage as it clutters up with prissy pop culture references and out-of-date second century stories of snow-capped hills and soldiers of misfortune in the failed utopia of socialized sleaze. Catch the gentle breeze and sell out for a scant cent when the dough is done cooking in the oven. Inflationary tactics of a tortured institution get the thumbs down signal in the coliseum when the show is deemed unworthy to continue. Fat lady singing her low note symphony rides out on a chariot of bronze as the template turns over and all hope is lost to the utter darkness of an empire in free fall.

text || Edward Nichols

VESTIGES OF RUST

 

         Raught sinled.  Sought mingled.Treyclayed.Overshot.  Drekmore blutted.bleatly. 

L-i-gh-t-l-y   tranduced    quagmire- juice freymoth a  slightly.  Bent  vesgios  of    

                                                                                                                         Nigh  freymoth

Portrol   Pluckenstock twas   inventoried  :Flodgering   How'd   birds The mirror range the prince apple  of  the  air. 

Wagner-  Ungorshedly pleating a shuarte for wereing.

Dr.Dent- Demlonushed     dley  clightly   expendutine   uksploded   in   a   puffiness   of   smoke, 

Wagner-I'd  wish    cudd halves  seems   that, maybe   another  time

SYNCHROCYCLOTRON     SSubjective   disorder  waters the eye of the  emerald.     slodge  gush

pureiah  valvagated salviagated Crunch stares at  its' own  stare trastatidecated.

Thatand.

        Plop  Aiz VerySuspendicious  Unseen spuriously  penched crollettes prumenodded thru the landscape.Tenafic tresslley    aye   gents fluttered around the  explunatort.

         Lowsome  Groggcholdrene /\/\/9\9 Blottencarded Borch 

Rodent escrapadesrake the walls   of   insinsinsinuation  Widthal beclauses a       sprengature   of    torrents of   iideas floods Vanalcausted   of   emptying

NECKCROWFEELYA   $     6%%%%%%%()U@@@@@@.AKla999ZZz ::::::TACET.

poem || Jonathan Butcher

The Last Rule

As it slowly approaches shards of glass,

sit patiently our hands are still just as each

light begins.The eyes that serve the functioning

strobe light, refuses to play music for that matter.

The wraps are passed, again more focused, on

due telegrams. As your jabbering through the green

breeze like racing dandelions that never seemed

responsive to everything are exchanged. Outside

the pile of grey sunk, as my thoughts then more

plead for any superfluous from the night previous,

and never your strong point constant guidance

I commit a mere conscience to make this my last,

but now of course the chapped lips at maddening pace

as the dust settles without a glimmer, again you brag

only your bare hands and tongue, those aching

sentences spew forth, your hands swaying, you tell

your backwards menace again a fading flicker that

lost its spark an age ago. 

poem || John Pursch

Hootenanny Lube Job

Automatic lug nut tighteners

compress air between a shouting man

and numbered string cheese sandwiches

of taco management generalities,

flopping bubbled consonants

on incandescent portable hosiery whales,

calming hornbills with half a silvered

sky platoon of marinated gunwale crews.

Instantiations of mollycoddled cockatoos

slam thick hydraulic doors

in testing pattern blowgun nonchalance,

whirring past livid zebras at triplicated speech

of slouching pneumatic situational caress belief,

twiddling pewter pralines into

woven card shark shackles.

“Quad happened to hubcap

hovercraft hootenanny hours,

wad disappeared quietly hand

oh so utterly from my ignorance

of solid die-cast hailstorms

in aerial radiation cacophony offal?”

That war the solely mumbled question

outa airy heir to the Styrofoam fortune canteen’s

switchyard border-calling guardian,

who calmly dried his clammy

status-seeking latchkey lackeys,

whisking cube bullion into Fiord Notch, Canned Tucas,

pretty closet cloned to steeping inner Americon.

poem || Lawrence Upton

Lebanon variations

the mouths keep spread the murmuring

messages

reverberations

lose one one’s mind

reverberations

take hold

shadows illuminating

shadows humans, mined and not programmed,

but adoring, mannering a group mirage,

borrowed whispers recall these voices

gaining on wind,  painful returning catches

voices against traffic

to walk with screams eyeing safety smiling

lungs light weight sparks in space patterns

protruding into brightness rounded meaning

shutting behind knowing there’s a storm

                           

amazement too is dull now

before mud postured legends faces composed

flames into attachments saying and assaying

the collecting litter flesh is bargaining

power the honey, the honey, the honey is sour

milk of rhetoric curdles arcs of sand push

deserts to interior depths gathering

bopping herds of particles

                                              I am always

recurring speaks one the other side of cliffs

a skull howling close to the ear imaginary

envoy demands what’s in your pockets openings

providing well-being I write to see

that smile again a tone in countenance

closing up

                  song discloses orators dispersing

the morning crossing on to day quickly,

earlier, silver places, bodies darkening

a sky a visitation continually

pacing round fires compelling warmth

                                                            it is

very near, each head seen overhead

joining music we could cut turning

Listen

fibs get up worlds inside an indication

the wits to help offended by visitors

and what they let fall

                                   machines with might

I have written I

the life form says; or

I have said me forming

out of my hands?

bliss deepening skills stricken written down

these voices crying

or seeing

become each other

melodic

wiles taking old remembrance

loose dust to the lips

a distancing laughter

return force

in concert

touching

sharing

apprehensive

dirge

within rocks and rubble, intenser darkness

made us from rumour

we can live next to

drew out swaying improprieties

to play the mirror

using, set sights on, fired

to withstand knowledge

we reside in

jargon

dissolution aching

craving, longing, termination

eclipse of the full word shining

wraith inside the cranium

fearful

preserving a grin

incessant dreaming

shelter lures to song the dwellers

hung around

the night is burning

garbage beings barter

creatures foxtrot

contained by unwritten faith

voices tugging phrases together

influence waiting pitiful tempting

smiling echoes opening circles turning

that different speech caught in persistent fingers

spaces we call words are synchronising

an orgasmic void yearning round meaning

tenderness grown to be knowing wonder

we are in our journeying talk warning

you know nothing

let me inform on you

tell all the stories

say all the strong names

low sounds of drama

look-worlds

breath squeaks in moving time

we look for connection in stories

which start out of deep soft tissue

blood shocked

ushered

axes and planes roll through withstanding earth

the circumference of fact shadowy

our heads inhabit our blurring chatter

dreams execute knots, one mind dancing one body

an ocean crashing, an ocean hanging, within,

a dooring, a possibility not taken

impossibility forced upon us

we teach ourselves

          but we sit still

          it is imagined

unimagination

following patterns inducing hesitation

snatching of white persuasion

in place of urging

poem || Brandon Theis

The Folly Ball
 

Trotting blotter fraught with clots, finding what other's sought.

Beet oven 53 degrees, deers out in the blind, caught in flocks of golden grease, deep feudal slots, and creased sheets. Dipped twice and dried just right.

So many tabs stuck in teeth, drums as borders of loving and rubbing, plumbing the lightening righteous.

Four corks floored on shrill shocked naughty crotch mouth foolery. Stomp drilling the muse, harming the money's fork.

Bending vibes all the beastly way down, forge grounded, tonal bleeding crests, wakes of the stress less, free the blessed makers hominy.

Fragile as the whisper flaming, crude and grudged, virtual peripheral; ethereal, tethered, scorn harness.

Tort world pinching at the nerve ferry, dropped miraculous sub optimal cloak clothing, pulse moaning shouts remainder echos: venerated vertebrae vernacular, spectacular spectrum syntax masters, act as fasteners.

Binding the blight of lost lives winding down, the alley folly encased as pathways forgotten, troll mastication hewn in roasted trilobite epiphany.