Thomas
Luedtke, "Inexpensive Alternatives to the Traditional Floral Bouquet"
Jessy Randall, "One
Day, the Ass-Talker Stopped Talking Out of His Ass"
Mitchell Metz, "Blue
Tattoo"
Thomas Luedtke
Inexpensive Alternatives to the
Traditional Floral Bouquet
for K.Z.R.
Running your
palm along my navel's thin fur
and remarking on the unusual depth and general
roominess
of my bellybutton, your voice has no wink of sarcasm,
no
whirring underhandedness,
speaking only to render what has been
spoken
known and irrefutable in a habitual
making things accounted
for,
abrupt recognitions that name
the shape of the world;
the cost of
a can of beans
or the French word for shoes.
In the flat-mouthed
meditation
of a young girl choosing a first pet,
you plucked a single
hair,
hold the dark kinked orphan of my middle
between your forefinger and
thumb,
lift it into a rope of sunlight coming through
the window and
inspect with an eye closed before
smoothing the bed sheet beside me and
placing
it carefully there, then return to my belly for another.
And
I,wincing, wonder if this is a polite hint, if this is indeed
your
preference, the cheaper but more painfully given
alternative to the small
collections of flowers I bring
you and may never need bring again.
Jessy Randall
One Day, The Ass-Talker
Stopped Talking Out of His Ass
His mother said, My darling, I can
hardly believe it. His father
said, What? What did you say? His sister said
It's only temporary. His
brother said Could you repeat that? And so the
ass-talker apologized
again. I was wrong, he said. I was only guessing. I
never really knew
the answer.
Mitchell Metz
Blue Tattoo
Thanks for attaching the pic
of the dragon tattoo on your
tricep
Downloaded just fine. Can't say I've fashioned
a strong opinion on
the tat, except that it looks like a seahorse
Which I suspect--
and I
don't know much
about body art, or mythical creatures
for that matter--is
not the effect you're shooting for.
Couldn't help but notice,
though,
that there seems to be a woman
lurking beneath the
beast.
May be wrong. Been wrong before
about girly lurking. But I
think I see
some flesh and the strong presence
of no blood & some
meat--the meat
that is you, peeking. Definite sinew.
Are you pale, or
what? I knew
you were. You told me. White as a wafer.
Didn't figure you'd
make it some kind of sacrament
in a new sect. Christ,
you're almost
transparent!
White that wanes past itself
cannibalizes into blue. A blue
needing. A blue
needing to be eaten by the suggestion of shadow,
or me.
Speaking of me
speaking of shadow, I'm, yum, all over
your lack of
cleavage. That pretty hint of not much
is about the most feminine thing I've
ever not seen.
Your tits are double negatives,
baby, and I'm turned
on
by bad logic.
Oh, and those stray curls
that fall from frame's
edge to
kiss the rise of your shoulder?
Never used the word tendril
before.
Consider this a first. Consider it tender.
They're
gray!
Blonde, yeah. But gray, too.
Screw auburn and platinum,
henceforth
blondeyeahbutgraytoo's the best color curls
could possibly be.
I said best,
which brings us to the show stopper. (Sure,
I understand
that your seahorse is the star,
the marquee act in our peek-a-boo
drama,
so fierce and manifest and full of intent
blah, blah, blah ...
),
but from the wings
a bit player steals the scene.
She's a swan;
the luxurious longitude
of your neck's tendon. Bold. Fragile.
Plunging
provocatively
to the shadowed grotto, the shallow pocket
where the sternum
bolsters throat, that very atrium
of flesh responsible for ... severe
over-writing.
Point is,
it got me going.
And thanks for that.
I
like the pic. Not bad.