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Same Tunes, New Radio
there comes a time when the memory is so vivid it turns a double truth the grape pain meds and the stinging burn when it goes down dulled by time it all comes back when the music plays. remember when it was only words? the noises and these pitches have since become us every sound…
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Infelix
When the car headlights flash against the ceramic flowerpot, still sitting on the corner of the porch where you left it, I see your green feline eyes. Still waiting where I left them. Whoever first said black cats were unlucky never got to meet you. Every time I cried, you found all the hurting places.…
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After the Breath is Music
he sits atthe edge of his stool. atthe end of things.a tumultuous tower beforethe edge of void, pressing in;a piano key hit beforethe void of whatwe do not know. every sightto be seen stares back at us now.him pressing those keys,playing piano, head tossed back gazing up to sky and seeing our lasting resonanceour closing…
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heat death
we are a high school, honey-love crush, terribly beautiful at our tipping point to the contact. staring into abyssal zones. walking on water; wading; raising generations of fish through this finality. the poem steering directionlessness into its narrative. the death of oceans as a wicked strangling no one wants to solve. it is all simply too evil and we are…
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Logging Off?
Yeah, 10 hours yesterday / I am happy though / (happier than most) / Satisfied, even / I mean, the rush is never as strong as the first time it hit / but at least something is guaranteed / it’s the internet / there always *has* to be something out there / something else to…
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moon lover, star gazer
we’re at the bottom of a well / looking through to the heavens / why are you crying? you’re like the sun honey / the sun / why are you crying? / i’m here. i’m right here. / every staple on the telephone pole was once a cat who was lost / found. / a…
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The Wall in My Therapist’s Office
At the end of every appointment, I drag myself from her office, walking past the vibrant banners. Each flag is illustrated with its own colors and flown by its own people. Like a lighthouse, they guide the lost home. Like a moon on the water, they create peace amongst the chaos of the world. The…
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VITA EXPERIENCIA
mihi vita est miraculum. During the day, I was visited every hour. A nurse for every year. A rub of alcohol and a bit of saline twice as often. There were the IVs. The shots.I was reminded of my grandmother’s needle cushions watching the breaking surface of my skin. The nurses always asked, “Do you…
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“Buddy”
Between the wire-barbed bar, lens cap of his life, he can see a worker approaching his cage. This time, she does not offer him food. She reaches for the sign above his cage (“Puppy for Sale”) and pulls it down, the replacement already under-arm. “Dog for Sale; Marked Down.” Partially paid for by what it…
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Tell Us How You Feel
I’m sitting on a city bench, running on empty. Whatever vividness used to live here has just. Burned out. That space of empty space. Lost in something I have lost. It’s a feeling not like ice, but ash asking, “Where do I go from here?” And then staring at the ground beneath my feet. Losing…
Hazel J. Hall 