Mark Herr

STILL FRESH AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

I am in the crime scene photos,
Carefully watching from the loading dock.
Watching the men go about their routine,
Which, for me, is all virgin territory.
The body is someone I knew,
Just not well.
On sight, really.
And he was gunned down
In front of friends of mine.
They are not in the crime scene photos.
But, I watch, out of curiosity.
And after they have moved the body,
I watch the cop drop a small bucket of water,
To hopefully wash away the last of the man.
It doesn't really work.
There are images burned into our brains
That will last a lifetime.


Mark's YouTube reading of "Still Fresh After All These Years"


Mark confesses: "Long story short: Late 80's, I was working at a warehouse in the suburbs of Baltimore. Surrounded by self-storage units. Drugs found in a tenant's unit. Things spiraled and the manager got gunned down in front of my coworkers and customers. And yes, I am in the crime scene photos."


MARK HERR is "nobody you would know. Some day, he will do something about that. Maybe today. In the meantime, he posts poems much lighter in nature, every day on Instagram @marklherr He grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, but sometimes, life from The Wire spills out into the county."

G. Emil Reutter

PHINDA BUTTON SPIDER

Not a snake Not low on the ground
Or slithering up a tree
Between rocks
Or lying in wait in weeds
No...not a snake.

So, what then...

atrocious, barbarous, bitter, brutal
callous, cold-blooded, evil, harsh
hateful, heartless, inhuman, inhumane
merciless, painful, relentless, ruthless
sadistic, spiteful, tyrannical, unkind,
vicious, wicked.

So, what then...

Trickster... Overlord?

Not a jackal

Not a Phinda button spider

No...what we have here is

...Jack Napier in charge.


g. emil's YouTube reading of "Phinda Button Spider"

G. EMIL REUTTER is a writer of stories and poems and on occasion literary criticism. His latest collection is On the Other Side of Goodbye.

Tony Dawson

THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY

An orange miasma has once again spread
throughout the States leaving many braindead.
The stench is so strong it’s starting to choke
democracies everywhere, and that is no joke.
The same miasma is giving off spores
that also prove noxious away from its shores.
A near lethal strain has lately infected
some parts of our World that were left unprotected.
The miasma is planning to force everyone out
of the Gaza Strip to insert its large snout.
To the miasma it smacks of a Strip Club, whoopee!
It’s expecting to move in and claim it for free.


Tony's YouTube reading of "The Crime of the Century"


Tony confesses: "I was shocked when Trump was re-elected President and even more shocked by his sock puppet’s arrogant speech in Munich, encouraging European leaders to embrace Fascism. Something had to be said."

TONY DAWSON, an English writer, has been living in Seville since 1989 and continues to publish widely in the USA, UK and Australia since he took up writing during the pandemic. Many of his poems have been published as three small collections:

Afterthoughts ISBN 9788119 228348, published by Cyberwit.net. First edition: 2023 and reviewed at: https://londongrip.co.uk/2023/06/london-grip-poetry-review-tony-dawson/

Musings ISBN 97819115 819666, published by Impspired. First edition: December 2023 and reviewed at: https://londongrip.co.uk/2023/12/london-grip-poetry-review-tony-dawson-2/

and Reflections in a Dirty Mirror ISBN 9781915819949 also published by Impspired. First Edition: April 2024and reviewed at: https://londongrip.co.uk/2024/04/london-grip-poetry-review-tony-dawson-3/

In addition, he has written a number of pieces of flash fiction, a selection of which appeared in Curiouser and Curiouser ISBN 9788119 654932, published by Cyberwit.net. First edition: 2023.

Jennifer Lagier

SHADOW GOVERNMENT

Purchased by an unelected oligarch
as part of a hostile takeover,
democracy teeters, then starts to fall,
hollowed out by mass firings,
dismantling agencies and departments,
infiltration of government databases
by teenage incels.

Old white men mistake The Handmaid’s Tale
as an instructional manual,
introduce legislation to prevent women
from exercising the right to vote
or control their own bodies.

Daily, I doom scroll headlines,
ponder each unfolding outrage,
wonder how to prevent ongoing assaults
against established rule of law,
separation of powers.

I resist and speak out,
refuse to concede
or bend the knee
to corrupt egomaniacs
who are stealing my country.


Jennifer's YouTube reading of "Shadow Government"


Jennifer confesses: "Every day since January 20, 2025, has brought a flurry of unconstitutional, repressive executive orders. An unelected oligarch has seized control of our government while spineless legislators ignore their constitution, country and needs of their constituents. We are witnessing the death of democracy, murdered by greed and ignorance."

JENNIFER LAGIER lives a block from the stage where Jimi Hendrix torched his guitar during the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. She is a retired college instructor/librarian who taught with California Poets in the Schools, edits Monterey Review, helps publicize Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium reading series. Jennifer has published twenty-three books.