Milieu I sat in the park with my pad and my pencilAnd I tried to sketch the people going by,The water crashing, the boats passing,The green and yellow hill.My left hand smudging the paperAs it dragged along like a bad leg.I sat there interminablyAnd the people on my pad did not look like they were … Continue reading Two Poems by John Tustin
Forgotten Forgottenlike the first kisswith an almost-strangeryou only kissed one early morning,years ago.You told yourselfthat you kissed herjust to pass a little timeand you’ve believed itever since. You remember the bus stationand sitting there with herat three A.M.,just you and herand an old man dozingfar off in the corner and you remembershe said something to … Continue reading Two Poems by John Tustin
Her Shoulder And what about her shoulder?How it looked as a soft mound, covered in a blanket,Her sighing and asleep with her back to youIn the wan still glow of the moonlit dark.Your shiver of excitementWhen she turned over in her sleepTo face you, a look of consternation on her eyelids,What was almost a secretive … Continue reading Two Poems by John Tustin
She keeps the banjo Jay bought herRight beside her bed. Alex painted her portraitAnd it sits on the bedroom wall,In view of her sleeping bodyNight after night after night. My 500 poems written about her are in a drawer,Underneath some blankets and a book beneath her bed.My photo is turned down, wrapped in a shirt … Continue reading “Break the Clasp” by John Tustin
It has happened –The days run together all the sameAnd I don’t know if I spoke to youA day ago or a month. I wait for you to contact meAnd if you don’tThen we just won’t ever speak again. The sun coming into the room in the morningFeels like the stormtroopers bursting in,Turning drawers and … Continue reading “Run Out of Love” by John Tustin
The night I died in my sleep last week I woke up somehow in my old bedroom With the Spider-man poster on the wall And the room smelling like the worst of me Because I always kept my door closed. I was dizzy when I opened my eyes, lying face up in bed, And my … Continue reading “The Night I Died in My Sleep” by John Tustin
(through April 2023) Ackerman, Felicia Nimue 1/22/23, 12/5/22, 8/31/22, 4/18/22, 12/4/21, 6/25/21, 5/26/21 Acuff, Gale 3/20/23, 1/27/20 Ahamed, Sheikh 5/25/20 Aitken, Geoffrey 5/28/20 Aller, Jake Cosmos 8/12/19 Arakelian, Eva 9/2/21 Austin, Peter 7/28/21 Averill, Diane 3/11/20 Aylen, Leo 7/17/22 Baeyens, Jodie 11/26/22 Ball, Ray 10/29/19, 10/14/19 Beardsall, Rebecca 1/21/20 Bedetti, Gaby 2/23/20 Bell, James 1/24/20 … Continue reading Contributors