Cold Rambler

 One of our members             was only married             for a few months,             when he required of his wife             to end every question             framed with the colloquialism,             "before you choke the chicken?"             His remains were scattered             over a Bavarian Forest,             the Pacific Ocean Maldive Atolls,             and an Indiana Walmart parking lot.             Still he did not rue.             Rather, his only regret             was his inability to locate             a decent decaf coffee    

It was a windy day in a windy city a long time ago. A sudden flurry made me into the vortex and I was surrounded by sheets of paper caught up and blown from a doorway. When it had settled,  I collected a few. They were letters applying for jobs dated about fifty years ago, I forget exactly when. All were hand written  in the most beautiful cursive scripts. I could visualise the care with which nibs had been dipped in ink, the concentration in the touch of pen to paper. These were the stuff of unknown dreams. The names are long forgotten now but I wonder what became of them, those ghosts of a past who touched my life in a flurry of wind only to be blown away.   Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She has been nominated for Pushcarts, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. https://lynn...

Is the Pope a Catholic. It is said so, and a Humanist It would seem so. Or just a human speaking out into the silence speaking of  “cruelty not war”  in Gaza and of “genocide”  there in Gaza, speaking out in a small act of rebellion.   Is J D Vance a Catholic. It is said so still. The unanswerable question is  why the Pope allows lets him be. Why  he doesn’t have a word in his ear direct, why  he doesn’t use his power to act where he can direct  action to excommunicate  the Catholic arming this cruelty blind to this genocide. Such a small act of rebellion speaking only  out into the silence.   Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She has been nominated for Pushcarts, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com and...

After work, Buchman drops in  at his local watering hole, a studied dive called  The Triple Zero, to drown the day in boilermakers. Tyson, the bartender,  polishing a beer mug with  a stringy red towel,  inches down to Buchman’s lonely seat at the end  of the battered oak counter. “I can see,” Tyson says,  “you had another shitty day  in retail sales. Big surprise.” “Yeah,” says Buchman,  between sips of Old Style. Tyson sets the empty mug down  on the bar and drapes the towel over his shoulder. “You done any thinking about that million-dollar idea  I offered you halfsies on?” Buchman downs a shot of Bushmill’s. “Which one was that, again?”  Tyson grimaces and sighs. “Damn, Buchman, you got to start thinking big to move up the ladder. Time’s running out for guys like us.  Do you think I want to be here,   pouring drinks, until I die?  The idea is called. . .Honuts.” “Honuts,” echoes Buchman. “Come on, I told...

Sixty Million Tonnes  and what do we get? Almost a song lyric  written for those who don’t get older,  the uncounted ones lost in the rubble of Gaza. Sixty Million Tonnes of homes, roads,  and infrastructure converted into rubble that will take uncountable years for us to clear and still longer to rebuild towns and villages,  to replant crops and trees. And who are the ‘us’ - the ones who will pay. The same ‘us’ as did it before and will do it again unless perpetrators are held accountable. And while this goes on, year upon year ‘they’ will feed those surviving living still in that wasteland of rubble. The same ‘they’ as did it before,  are trying to do it now and will do it again unless perpetrators are held accountable. And how will we, us, they and them  deal with the hate engendered. It will have to be dealt with, then what will we do as we count the cost once again.   Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social...

My flesh pays the wages of these bugs. I think my thoughts are where the work gets done but it's on the factory floor of torso, arms, legs, face, where invisible creatures go about their rubbing, flaking, gnawing, devouring, industry. Can't blitz them, can't wash them away, can't get rid of them, no way. Some fool even has the nerve to say they're good for me. People like that get under my skin. I hope they enjoy the bug company. John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Midnight Mind, Novus and Flights. Latest books, “Bittersweet”, “Subject Matters” and “Between Two Fires” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Levitate, White Wall Review and Willow Review.