JANUARY 2021 – THE CITY POETRY
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If the Dogwood buds’
Tightly shut eyes
Would open
They would see that spring
Is speaking full sentences

But they wait
To hear the frogs singing
First.

– Heather Ann Shepard
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Love Is A Lot Of Silly Refurbishing

I have a feeling that she doesn’t like me,
but I am afraid to ask. She’s older than me
and has had plenty of guys in her room.
She says she likes sitting with me
at the senior center, but she does not ever
smile when I say her name. One time I
asked her if she wanted my babies. She
did not smile as she told me sex was now
out of her nature. That day she sounded
like the ingredients in a bottle of ketchup.

But I still love her though she still does not
know it. The one time she told me I was
cute has formed itself upon my chest. She
lives in a small neighborhood near Solon.
I live in a 2 bedroom bungalow on the other
side of town. I went to her church once,
but did not see her in the first service. She
must have slept in that Sunday. One day
I will walk up to her and ask her to marry me.
She will say yes, and come sleep with me.

Daniel Gallik

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birds chirp. & trees bark.
skies open wide & wonder
why I’d close my heart.

~ Maxwell Shell, from haikus to hide you with

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FEVER

Talking to her was like recalling
A landscape I had seen in a fever. The
Summer was upon me and I had been
Feeling the rhythm of July.

The heat had hands and often held me too
Tightly making me think I had heard something
I had not, but was sure I had. Her voice
Seemed to find distances within me
That had real substance, overly familiar,
Even intimate.

She disappeared into a silence
I could not comprehend.

~ D.R. Wagner

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In the August mural

Your thighs open
Your birthday cake is made from light
Your mother tilts the thrift store mirror
the telephone rings
pennies roll from heaven
water rolls off a duck’s back
the world is born the turtle returns
the smiling week leaves its seconds
the church is a brewery
the crow brings honey
the temple is of corn
the sunflowers riot
the earthworm fingers the soil
that nurtures the potato’s heart

~ Lady

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WEN I WUZ EATING

Genghis Khan
wen suddenly materialize before me

in da fast food restaurant
wen I wuz eating my meal.

He told me dat he wen kill moa warriors
and bagged moa women

den I could evah hope to
in one hundred lifetimes.

I wuzn’t impressed

and I wuz actually moa irritated
wen he kept asking me

why I nevah like mayonnaise
on my burger.

He keep pressing da issue
on how much he enjoyed it

so I had to tell him
if he liked it so much

den moa bettah
he go order one foa himself.

Genghis got angry wit me

and two huge bodyguards wit daggers
instantaneously appeared at his side

and dey wuz staring me down.

I told him and da adah guys,

“Eh, Temujin,

no try muscle in on me wit your goons
especially wen I minding my own business.”

Genghis wen go ballistic
wen he heard dat

and he started ranting and crying
cause I wen use his kid name

dat wen remind him
of his rough and unfortunate boyhood.

I heard he had to wear wun big yoke
around his neck foa awhile

but I nevah have anyting to do wit dat.

Howevah

making him aware of his past
wen work foa me

cause Genghis

went storming out
da front door of da fast food restaurant

taking his bodyguards wit him.

Now I could at least enjoy my meal
in peace.

Dats wat I taught

until Attila the Hun
came out of da restroom

and sat down in front of me.

Maybe because of his bloody reputation

he kept asking me
ovah and ovah again

why I put so much ketchup
on my French fries.

I almost wen answer him

wen Alexander the Great
wen burst through da front door

and immediately pushed to da front
of da line

so he could order wun strawberry shake
and wun new world taco.

I tell you

dis is da last time
I coming to dis place on Halloween.

~ Joe Balaz

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