poems & short stories
(THEY're OUT There Somewhere).
Short Story - Tomasso in 101 Words
Sometimes it's good to get out your feelings in a song, poem, sculpture, or any kind of artwork you're accustomed to. This time, my vehicle was a short story that clocked in at exactly 101 words.
The Road to Hanoi in Anak Sustra, Issue 49
In The Road to Hanoi, 72-year-old Vietnamese emigre Thanh Nguyen, living in Seattle, builds a boat to sail across the Pacific to his birthplace in Hanoi. His 21-year-old grandson, sensing the adventure of a lifetime, goes along for the ride.
Two Poems in Across The Margin
Invisible Slab of Town and Homebound both contain strong references to the daily grind of wading through the concrete jungles.
Short Story - The Schubert Quartet in The Broadkill Review
This short story is told through the naive eyes of a 14-year-old boy living in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany.
Three Poems in Neon Mariposa Magazine
I got bit by the poetry bug when I attended Iowa State University. Spurred on by my success of getting published in Sketch, the ISU literary magazine, I wrote and self-published three books of poetry - The Robin, I'm Not A Carpet and Scream With The Rhythm. None of those poems are in Neon Mariposa. i just thought I'd add this little anecdote.
One Poem in Vita Brevis Press.
This poem, Watching Me Watching You, was an editor's choice on Vita Brevis. [pats self on back]. Nice layout, too.
Three Poems in Jerry Jazz Musician
Even though I have my own page at Jerry Jazz Musician, my three contributions are displayed on pages with works of other poets. You'll have to scroll through some content for mine since they're not alphabetized. The three poems are Edge of Time, Gypsy, and Susannah McCorkle. Susannah's life story touched me because it ended so tragically. She was a jazz singer with a steady gig at The Algonquin. Somewhere along the way, management replaced her with someone else. Susannah, already suffering from depression, leaped from the balcony of her apartment at 41 W. 86th St. in Manhattan. She was 55.
One Poem in Verdad
This poem, I Was A Teenage Microbe, speaks about the invisibility some feel even when they're in a crowd.
One Poem in Yes Poetry
Do You Have Time For An Antidote For Scars? That was the question posed by Yes Poetry. My answer? Labels. The general theme of this outing is alienation.
One Poem in The Bangalore Review
This poem, Headless Martyrs, is a nature poem and a tribute to the wonderful industrial world of worker ants.
One Poem in Streetlight Magazine
Bitter Seeds is a poem about twin sisters. Here, twin refers to them as being of similar mind, not from the same mother. It's a reference to two women I went to punk clubs with when I was a student at Iowa State University. i even had a radio show there, on KPGY-FM. I called it New Music Experience and played punk & new wave tracks from Alternative Tentacles and other labels.
One Poem in Rue Scribe/Underwood Press
Oxtail Stew is my version of revenge. It comes from an incident at work. One day, a family member visited her loved one in the medical center I worked in. Hungry, she used the common microwave to nuke her lunch. My co-workers were so annoyed by the odor of her dish that they opened several windows. In a way, that's kind of rude. The family member never noticed this slight, though. I guess that's one of those incidents you play down and try to forget. BTW, her meal wasn't oxtail stew, it was dried shrimp. My poem is in reference to an exotic, West Indian dish that I could see some folks turning their nose up to. I no longer eat meat as I'm a vegan now, but the sentiment remains the same.
Short Story - Lamp Black in Scarlet Leaf Review
I'd forgotten I had this fairy tale published in Scarlet Leaf Review. In fact, I don't even remember submitting it. Lamp Black also appears in my short story collection Obey the Darkness: Horror Stories. It's an interesting take on the Snow White/Rose Red trope in that Lamp Black was, well, lamp black. The story's about a black orphan found floating downstream in a basket. People in the village didn't know what to make of her. In the end, she became a heroine who saved the village from an evil witch.