week thirteen

_________________________________________

in memory of my dad (1954-2009)

i started missing you in the grocery store.
i am not sure what triggered my sorrow.
maybe it was seeing the little girl that probably has a dad.
or the man that walked by wearing running shoes.
or the crispness of the carrots--
the yellow of the lemons,
the smell of doughnuts
or the sounds of squeaky cart wheels.

or maybe it was all of it.

the grocery store is about as everyday as it gets.
so maybe I cried because I was reminded that
everyday is exactly how long I am without you
and how often I will think of you and miss you.
so I started to cry. not sob, but undoubtedly tears.

I looked up to see a small 17 year old curly hair boy
with a green apron and a name tag.
what could I explain? so I missed you some more,
and soon some of your love and humor surrounded me,
so i looked at this boy tearfully and said,
"I just love good produce."

megan morton

_________________________________________

america: home of the free

in america: land of the brave,
we are free to wet ourselves
at first sight of an enemy.

we are free to worry
about nazis gassing us
through the heating vents,

and are free to board up
the heating vents
to prevent this.

in america: land of opportunity,
we are free to live at mom's
into our thirties

we are free to play second life
while our first one
goes on without us,

and are free to achieve nothing
admirable, praiseworthy,
or noticeable as a result.


billie jean

billie jean is still my lover
she's just a girl who claims that mj's the one,
but the kid is not his son.
she says he is the one,
but the kid's for sure my son.

austinrory hackett

_________________________________________

my face is pressed against a window

the rose-colored glass taunts me with a sing-song voice

sources of comfort, now seeming to know

join in on the joke, and laugh at his choice.

rude.

sara thomas

_________________________________________

band together pink saris

the pink sari gang strikes again!
widows against injustice
left a rapist with 2 black eyes,
the women are tired
and it's been unleashed.
"don't harm that woman, or your ass is ours".
shiva is our empowerment? no!
our single goddess is hot,
therefore, the tension is high
leaving only angry violence as our answer
now we control, so fear the pink sari
all ye rapers, beaters, violators, and dominators
of women.

erik fullmer

_________________________________________

low.as.long

sort of like a disease, but cuter.
death of the poet death of everything just death
death.death.death.death.
its sort of like an obsession. this death
but that day was moss and this
is death. still cute.
tile patterns like beehives in swimming pools
i will drown i've
practiced
in bathtubs alone
. . . . .in public water resorts
. . . . . . . . .i've practiced back
. . . . .towards the sun facing
. . . . . . . . .tiles in a swimming pool
. . . . .eyes open and chlorinated and
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . limp. my death
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .has been done
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .outside of tiles
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .and water, too.
. . . . . it runs exhausted low as long and
. . . . . . . . . . so untraditional a mossy day at death.
while the sun cuts up and wags the sky
across clouds beating drum kicks furious and rapid
i see the sun and swallow it entirely.
lodged in the back of my mouth for
a year and a half and then a new location
to the throat and a lick ride that color was
like moss with caterpillar skin.
and there the sun remains by my
lump of tissue blue and flesh and hopeful of
death with the sun whole and bound as a heart.


untitled

damn the entirety of this circle
each voice is incomplete
each voice is an opinion
damn each opinion

my voice
or an individual voice
is the turn table topic
truth in ink is the topic

individual voice
is not that of a group
is not yours
damn your opinion

this circle of people
is violating
personal creativity

sarah cutler

_________________________________________

myron's observations at the lake

7-18-2009, 12:37pm: a man skillfully maneuvers his late model, extended cab, 4x4 truck backward until the chrome wheels of the boat trailer are swallowed up from the lapping waves of utah lake. at the same moment a girl stands in the boat dutifully prepping the boat for its saturday showcase.

7-18-2009, 12:40pm: the next man skillfully maneuvers his late model, extended cab, 4x4 truck backward until the chrome wheels of the boat trailer are swallowed up from the lapping waves of utah lake. at the same moment the next girl stands in the boat dutifully prepping the boat for its saturday showcase.

7-18-2009, 12:44pm: the next man skillfully maneuvers his late model, extended cab, 4x4 truck backward until the chrome wheels of the boat trailer are swallowed up from the lapping waves of utah lake. at the same moment the next girl stands in the boat dutifully prepping the boat for its saturday showcase.

7-18-2009, 12:50pm: the next man skillfully maneuvers his late model, extended cab, 4x4 truck backward until the chrome wheels of the boat trailer are swallowed up from the lapping waves of utah lake. at the same moment the next girl stands in the boat dutifully prepping the boat for its saturday showcase.

7-18-2009, 12:57pm: the next man skillfully maneuvers his late model, extended cab, 4x4 truck backward until the chrome wheels of the boat trailer are swallowed up from the lapping waves of utah lake. at the same moment the next girl stands in the boat dutifully prepping the boat for its saturday showcase.

7-18-2009, 1:04pm: the next man skillfully maneuvers his late model, extended cab, 4x4 truck backward until the chrome wheels of the boat trailer are swallowed up from the lapping waves of utah lake. at the same moment the next girl stands in the boat dutifully prepping the boat for its saturday showcase.

7-18-2009, 1:09pm: the next man skillfully maneuvers his late model, extended cab, 4x4 truck backward until the chrome wheels of the boat trailer are swallowed up from the lapping waves of utah lake. at the same moment the next girl stands in the boat dutifully prepping the boat for its saturday showcase.

etc.

myron nilsson

_________________________________________

2s and 3s

life can be as simple as choosing-

this or that

here or there

now or later

up or down

right or left

and seclusion exclusion and inclusion

make or break the illusion

of walls made by us and them

you choose

rich curtis

_________________________________________

more than enough

im sure with each child

not just with me,

you wondered if

what you said and did

would ever be enough.

you pulled me through

when we both almost went.

you stood by me during

my twos, when i was terrible.

you taught me what it meant to learn

all through my elementary years.

you held your ground

when i was sure that mine was higher.

you helped put my head on straight

when i thought it looked better crooked.

you were my beam of hope for 18 months

when i had nothing else to hope for.

you reassure me that i should, i can, i will

every time im convinced i shouldnt, cant and wont.

when i think of how to thank you,

each gift i could give pales in comparison

to the gift of life you so graciously gave to me.

be it known mom, that in my life

what you said and what you did

all of it was

more than enough.

aly cain

week twelve

_________________________________________

smokey pay

when you ask a firefighter

if it's going to be a bad forest fire year

are you asking if there'll be lots of fires?

or if it's going to be a bad year

to be a forest firefighter

who doesn't get hazard pay

overtime pay

holiday pay

sunday differential pay

because there are no forest fires to fight?

record amounts of precipitation

for the month of june

means that firefighters are stuck

dressing up like smokey the bear

for the provo/lehi/payson/alpine parades

and before you ask - no,

there is no such thing as smokey pay.

smokey the bear wants you

to start forest fires

trav clark

_________________________________________

imagine dungeons and dragons

my pants don't fit no more

maybe its cause i eat ez take out burgers all the time and

delicious milk shakes from del taco

or maybe its cause the pants i wear

are ones i stole

from the boys and girls club before they laid me off

wow im poor now and if anyone wants to help me pay

my utility bill

let me know

chris duce

_________________________________________

blessed autotrophs

light makes by carbon fixation
a forest out of air,

a small part of which becomes a
red coil-less notebook of

micro-perforated sheets that
holds a few of my poems.


break dancing

step to the music.
hand in hand
hand to back
step turn step.
eye contact.
smile.

i twist her arm sharply
out of socket

pop!

she kicks my knee backwards
against the bone

snap!

austinrory hackett

_________________________________________

dear artists,

great photography + boob guest appearances = not my favorite photography. it really hurts when i find some gnarly photographers who do it for me, then end up throwing me a curveball with their completely unnecessary theme of "the girls". i get it. it's natural. edgy. beautiful. artistic. whatever. but come on. we all know what they look like. let's set our sights outside of the boobie box. there's plenty of other body parts that are potentially photogenic. for instance, feet. or maybe even faces. now, i understand that we all have the right to free press. expression. art. i also get that our bodies are magical things that we should love and appreciate. and i do. but perhaps bude art should be left to the painters? not the self proclaimed hipsters who think that their last addition of that nipple was just what the project needed? i don't know. these are just ideas.

best regards,

ifiwanttoseethemilltakeashower

_________________________________________

satan is pretty smart

i want instant gratification.
i hate saving up for things.
i want them now.
i dont care if he will hurt me later
i love him now.
i dont care if this is fattening
it tastes good now.
i hate that it feels good now
and later feels wrong.
i know ill be tired tomorrow
but right now i want to stay up.
i want to be happy now.
i wont bother about yesterday
and tomorrow is too far.
ill do anything, for right now.
anything.
anything?
satan is pretty smart.

aly cain

_________________________________________

they're running out

they're running out

they're running out

they're running out of batterrrrrrryyyyyy

ha

ha

ha

ha

ha

ha

ha

ha

ha

ha

no batteries!

++anonymous++

_________________________________________

small talk with a new neighbor

oh hi.

yeah, just getting home from work.

it is hot, isn't it? well, have a...

oh. really? 115 degrees? a puddle of your own sweat? no kidding.

i didn't know it got that hot in 'nam.

well, i guess i shouldn't complain then.

see you...what was that?

yes, i guess i do a fair amount of shopping.

yeah, i guess you're right. a cold pack really might help me out.

well, it was sure nice meeting you.

sara thomas

_________________________________________

indians migrate? gone? or i'm never going to? or killed? in limbo? love you... oh, u!!!

dane cannon

_________________________________________

i sang with a gospel choir tonight

it was an unforgettable experience

there was no way that I could possibly blend in
so i decided that i had to be comfortable being different-

comfortable being myself.

i was the only 'white' person in the whole show

i sounded different,

looked different,

worshipped different-

but i felt a strange impression

that i was there for a reason-

breaking through invisible barriers that keep too many apart.

bianca merkley

_________________________________________

i am a man, but i once gave birth to an angel.

++anonymous++

_________________________________________