Untitled: The sun teaches warmth… by Benjamin Fisher

Benjamin Fisher

Untitled: The sun teaches warmth…

The sun teaches warmth and light and

            heaven, but

            you can’t be sure you’re a grateful

            student—prudent given Ockham’s razor

cuts so blunt agains the grain unsure of

            unsewn oats. Once stained nothing comes

clean, obscene blunders/faux pas wonders

like passed out mother holding square bottles instead

of babies.

            What thoughts condemn, slits from hip

to hem—you know it’s wrong, but

            like train crashes

            you won’t

            Look away.

            In this case, hate the sinner not

            the sin.

            “Rabounni?” The low woman said.

            No.

            He is not here, when he is needed

most.

            How can an ape teach a man tabled

manners? Play the parlor tricks and hope

they are

            enough.

Untitled: Seeing things… by Benjamin Fisher

Benjamin Fisher

Untitled: Seeing things…

Seeing things reminds us of being things—special
roles for special holes in the lives of small men; the question—
do they know what men are?—Christmas,
out for a cigarette, boy tugging at his sleeve,
“Please don’t leave, please.”
Never heard such a happy boyd beg shuddering
at memories of a heavy shoulder silhouette
tiptoeing in steel toe boots—
Embarrassment is crying in a basement over too
many drinks thinking about how to shave and
all the cuts endured that girls pointed at, leaning
against lockers and what you’d say to the s[u]n
so bright you could no longer hide in glass corners—
Sometimes love is outrage over dirty catheters and
urethra infections, a failed reclamation of dignity
for the hickory that withered to dust in a
woman’s hands—And those little boys with
saucer eyes will ask the questions, will ask for
stories and hang onto cliffs made of words
hoping the ropes you fashion will hold them like
hammocks or wombs and you’ll remember a
Darwinian line hoping you are a knuckle dragger
forever.
–“Not to go on all-fours; that is the law.
Are we not men?”

The Promise by Dareian Griffith

Dareian Griffith

The Promise

Shameful stares seek her out,
cascade her mind; dreadful doubt.
Clutching strong, her internal life,
the promise: it will be alright.
This hard path ahead she knows,
yet leaving her bed her smile glows.
And through it all, she’ll persevere,
slowly but surely, life’s lesson becoming clear.
The words she hears, it’s worth the while,
but until we meet… dreaming of your precious smile.