Overflow by Katelyn Clontz

Heading for the Land of Peace by Fredessa Hamilton

Knowing we’re sitting here on
The eve of his passing
doesn’t help -
doesn’t hurt anymore

Either. Two by two we
drop exhausted. You and
her one night, me and you

Another. It hurts to leave,
it hurts to stay.
Of course you’ll fight not to go.
And you taught us well – our wells so deep -

We won’t stop. But don’t
you always want to see what’s next?
Adventure. A New Deal.

This has been long – there is
nothing like “ready” here.
No, no signal, no sign that says
it’s OK to go. Oh, but
Adventure – A pioneer
Headed for the Land of
Peace. And Love, Daddy.

We Ought to Look Back by Alan Blair

As the close of the decade neared, I felt fairly certain that when the cultural output of the 00’s was totaled and rated it would pale in comparison to my beloved 1990’s. “Things were better in my day! You damned kids and your fancy Facespace and etexts! Who took my Gold Bond Medicated Powder?!“ etc., etc. But when it came time to look back and assess the past ten years of music, film and television, the results were irrefutable: the 00’s was a fantastic decade for the popular arts in America. Moreover, technology made creating and finding that art easier than it’s ever been. Like the 90’s, I feel certain that I’ll continue to mine the depths of the 00’s for the things that I missed my first time around.

In the interest of brevity and in a not-so-subtle nod to a particular popular technology of the new decade, the raves listed below are no more than 140 characters in length. All titles are listed alphabetically so that I can cowardly avoid ranking them. And in the interests of variety and fairness to the other competitors, a certain band has bowed out of the running. Let’s light this candle.

Continue reading…

Funeral Talk by Ariana Farquharson

Few survive the whole way through funeral talk, as I know it. Let one body, anybody, in the family or
close-friend-of-the-family circle die, and before the talk is done, everybody has died at least once. Rest
assured most are resurrected via verbal retractions. Just listen to these two ladies – innocent 60-somethings, wide-brimmed church hat wearers, hot-flash fanners, modest high-heeled shoers, self-proclaimed well-versed knowledge-holders in their community’s goings-on – you know, ladies. Anyway, somebody they knew from way back when, one Arthur Kinney, died for real. But a few of his kinfolk got caught up in death during their funeral talk.

Continue reading…