3 poems

by chuck leary

illustrations by palomine studios

i rented a room the air was smoky the banana was yellow the clown was sad the doll was mellow the elephant smiled the flower grew the grass was green and heaven was blue i rented a room on the 17th floor the angels were winning but the demons kept score i looked at the wall and the wall looked back i heard old number 9 coming down the track the impetus waned as the joker relaxed the king fell asleep the lady paid tax the waiter approached with a bill on a tray the king woke up and said please go away i saw it myself as i sat by the door because lions prowl and oceans roar the market flourished noodles expanded the octopus drifted the piano glad-handed the queen wore a hat the refrigerator hummed the snake said good night and called the tarantula scum upstairs in the moonlight a violin screamed the walrus ate peanuts at the nexus of dreams the maid swept up the peanut shells on the floor sixteen orangutans banged on the door an impolite yawn zero balance is spent all of you villains are behind in your rent i texted my mom and my mom texted me you’re my own flesh and blood but this is not poetry

i rented a room - the director's cut air banana clown doll elephant flower grass heaven impetus joker king lady in waiting market nourishment octopus piano queen refrigerator snake tarantula upstairs violin walrus exhibition yawn zero all of you behind in your rent

room i walked in to the room and she said what are you doing here ? and i sat down in the old armchair that had be- longed to her grandfather and where her ex-husband liked to watch reruns of matlock

room 4404

by chuck leary

illustrations by danny delacroix

i had never heard of jonathon and i had never been to new york so i was surprised when jonathon invited me to stay with him at the grand hotel. i packed in a hurry. actually my aunt miranda packed for me so i did not really know what i had in my suitcase. the hotel was very wide, at least on the outside. there was a lot of work going on both outside and inside it, so i had to duck under and around a lot of wooden boards and cans of paint and burly workmen to get to the front desk. our room number was 4404. the 44th floor! the man at the front desk gave me a key and i went up by myself on the elevator, as there were no bellhops to be seen. on the elevator i had many strange adventures. when i finally got to room 4404 the door was open and i just walked in. jonathon was talking on the phone, and just nodded absently at me when i walked in. the room was actually a suite - a series of long and narrow rooms. as jonathon continued talking in low tones on the telephone, i went over and looked out the window. the window overlooked a beach, a sort of bay or inlet. on the other side of the bay tall cliffs rose up. i was hungry, and wondered what we would have for dinner. i must have dozed off, for when i woke up jonathon was gone. i was alone. i decided to unpack. when i unpacked i quickly discovered that aunt miranda had packed a number of grandfather’s old golf clubs along with a lot of warm clothing that i did not think was appropriate for the weather outside. five golf clubs to be exact. what was i to do with five golf clubs! i decided to go in search of something to eat, and some more suitable garments. when i checked my pockets i discovered that my wallet was missing, along with my passport! but as i was a presentable and civilized person i thought kind people would help me when i explained my predicament to them. and i had no doubt that jonathon would return eventually and everything would be straightened out. i went back to the elevator and had more strange adventures.

walking after midnight

by wiggly jones, "the little hippie boy"

illustrations by eddie el greco

the sky is blue the clouds are white i sleep by day and walk at night my father drives a yellow cab my mother takes in washing behind the purple mountain i hear the ocean sloshing my sister is a naughty girl my brother is a thief the stories i could tell you are quite beyond belief they took me to the station and made me pronounce my vowels they let me go at midnight i heard a werewolf howl the night was dark and windy and cold as it could be i passed a pretty lady but she did not smile at me she might have been a vampire waiting for the dawn i turned around to watch her but she was already gone i walked along the seashore and heard a shark’s teeth click i passed by abraham lincoln swinging a hickory stick next came william mckinley looking white and fat and sad i don’t know what he was thinking but it must have been pretty bad then along came woodrow wilson at a brisk and vigorous walk i saluted him respectfully but he had no time to talk i passed by winston churchill but he only scowled at me and i hurried past the castle because i wanted to be free i ran on past the ferris wheel and heard the whole world spin then i saw a fancy restaurant but they wouldn’t let me in i’m just as good as anyone i have always felt it so but some folks live up on the hill and others down below i wish i could be famous like john wayne or cleopatra and then i try to tell myself that it really doesn’t matter napoleon had an army roosevelt had friends i walk the earth all by myself i guess it all depends some folks wish for power others wish for love some just wish for money but they never get enough if only i could figure out the reason i was born i would put a smile upon my face and not be so forlorn if i could only figure out why we all exist i would write it in this poem and fade into the mist

6 poems by 6 poets

love by cynthia bondrian love is the answer to a question that should never be asked nobody should ever have to say do you love me or do you like me or why don’t you like me or what is wrong with me or why must i be banished from the tribe or why must i be hanged or why must i be burned at the stake or why must i be stoned or what are you all laughing at

cry by nicholas nelson i woke up this morning with a feeling of despair and cried because i wasn’t getting my share everybody was mean to me but all i wanted was too be free the day will dawn and the sun will shine but i won’t get what is rightfully mine my fellow humans will pass me by and not give a darn if i laugh or cry the wheels will roll and the markets climb but no one will throw me a lousy dime and no matter how much i shout and insist they will just keep on like i don’t exist if everybody would treat me nice i wouldn’t have to pay this price the sun would shine and the ice would melt and i would be just like everybody else

fuck by charles leary fuck all you motherfucking assholes, you motherfucking pieces of shit you raped and murdered us for a million years, but we have had enough of it now is the time for payback, to make you assholes pay now is the time for truth, listen to what i say the world is a bucket of blood, coming to a boil because all you care about is the price of oil the world is going up in flames because of your patriarchal games the world is going up in smoke you think it is all a joke you light your cigars as oceans die laugh as your profits multiply once humans walked the earth in peace sharing the earth with the other beasts in mother earth’s enfolding gaze time flowed on as one blue day tigers, dinosaurs, monkeys, elephants united in one cosmic dance creatures too numerous to name all treating each other the same and then against a darkening sky a strange figure drew nigh a long shadow in the setting sun a white man - with a gun the rest of course, is history a cavalcade of misery an endless dick up an endless ass bringing us to our present pass so fuck all you motherfucking assholes, you motherfucking pieces of shit you have raped and murdered for a million years, but we have had enough of it now is the time for revolution, to make you bastards pay now is the time for truth - time for the final new day

war by arthur dylan sternwall war was bad but it was ail we had in rain and wind and snow around the campfire’s glow passing time in song and story of battle's immortal glory what tales we told as we shivered in the cold the winners got to eat and those who knew defeat were immortalized in tales handed down through winter’s gales and when the sun burned bright after yet another night we put away our fears and gathered up our spears with our weapons on our shoulders let the earth grown warm or colder each day another test until our final heroes rest

peace by regina stapledon peace would be nice don’t you think? instead of blowing people to bits and cutting heads off and dropping bombs and napalm and shooting drones all over the world why can’t everybody just get along? what is there to fight about? oil? soybeans? one holy book instead of another? come on, people let’s try it! peace! you might like it

fame by corinne delmonico adolf hitler was famous so was marilyn monroe and elvis’s name will live forever as long as time does flow mao with his smile, stalin with his laugh winston churchill, alexander the great cleopatra floating down the nile defy the sneering ravages of fate salome, little david, leonardo michaelangelo ,and joan of arc their names and faces in twenty billion brains and not just statues in your local park jane austen, einstein, queen victoria look down on us from olympus and smile they will live forever you and i will be gone in a little while franks sinatra, jack the ripper, andy warhol you say they only had their fifteen minutes at least their names are written in the book but you and i will never even be in it why does this make us sad? why do we care? some day the earth will finally freeze over and even they will vanish into air

2 poems

by wiggly jones. "the little hippie boy"

illustrations by palomine studios

sky poems are about the sky why? poets from li po to rimbaud noticed that the sky was blue how true the sky is blue the clouds are white all right sometimes the sky is gray on a winter day and the grass is green when from a distance seen lonely travelers pass as cows chew the grass crows fly overhead their wings are black and their eyes are red

a lost dream in my youth i had a dream i thought that war would wither away and greed become a thing of the past and conflict and strife and the exploitation of one human by another would vanish like summer breezes if the human race only learned to love yes, love not war you’ve heard it all before but in my day i had something more specific in mind i thought all violence would vanish from the earth if only all human females were required to give love to any human male who asked them any place any time all the time well obviously the world has taken quite a different direction you 21st century humans may be horrified more likely you are laughing or just shaking your heads what can i say? if you saw me on the street today you would pass me by without a glance but how do you know that the streets are not filled with people who have had or still have thoughts even stranger or more foreign to you? how do you know?

a thought

by wiggly jones, "the little hippie boy"

illustrations by konrad kraus

when night falls the pigeons go away and the stars come out as i was falling asleep i thought that is a good system maybe the world would be a better and more peaceful place if others practiced a similar system what if the men went away and the women came out so that like the stars and the pigeons they never had to see each other or the white people went away and the black people came out or the gay people went away and the straight people came out or the christians went away and the muslims came out you get the idea maybe my idea has some holes in it or could be tweaked a little it is just a thought one of many that i sometimes have as i fall asleep