Ear Blood b/w Heavy Vibes

Down near the beach
Under hazed grey-blue-grey sky we
Found a remnant of a specter of a rumor
Scratched literally between the cracks
Even though the street scene was
Normal commerce I could stick out my
Tongue, taste the veil of heavy jelly weirdness

People not merely ignorant
Defiant in avoiding
I wanted to reach across the counter
Knocking past the mass-produced memorabilia
The codified fashion accessories
And shake them into admitting they recognized
Powerful strangeness here

Rarefied air once howled through narrow alleys
Of a sleepy beach community
Now on either side is a multi-million dollar home
But this was a spot, the spot where a few
Struck out against the culture and forged something
Their own

The impulse to step aside from the beat-it-down
Day-after-day mentality to create a new thing, a new
Language…here is the root
The need to create
To define self against the crushing, unstoppable waves
Just like the ones we saw down near the beach
Under hazed grey-blue-grey sky

Chris Besinger
Minneapolis, MN

We look for poetry that is not only high quality, but also accessible to the public at large. We publish a wide variety of poetry styles, but we tend not to publish end-rhymed poetry, inspirational verse or long poems.

Please send submissions of three to five poems (we prefer poetry under 40 lines) of your best work. We don’t mind reading new writers but no longer have time to send comments. If you are unsure if your work will fit in our format please view the past issues.

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