Selected Poems

THE MARRIAGE PROPOSAL
Laurie Blauner

CHOREOGRAPHY OF A TRANCE
John Goode

ONE DAY SUSAN
Francine Witte

ENCOUNTER
Paul B. Roth

CACHEXIA
Paul B. Roth

PREPARED PIANO
Joel Allegretti

PREPARED PIANO DE- AND RECONSTRUCTED
Joel Allegretti

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ISSUE NUMBER FOUR

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ISSUE NUMBER FIVE

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ISSUE NUMBER SIX

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ISSUE NUMBER SEVEN

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ISSUE NUMBER EIGHT

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ISSUE NUMBER NINE

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ISSUE NUMBER TEN

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ISSUE NUMBER ELEVEN

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ISSUE NUMBER TWELVE

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ISSUE NUMBER THIRTEEN

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herself working in erotic movies—
a bad geisha girl in The Golden Fork—
her face, blank-page white, her fingertips, rubies.
She whines, the man above moves as clockwork,
drives into the black orchid wither
that lasts centuries, through white-hot crystal
meth snowfall. She zooms and bucks, hears zithers—
three-thousand-string pluck counting up total
years spent bent over in red wigs, dark edges.
Next she’ll play Nicole in O.J. Gets Juiced
and each day, sours, each day, snaps, pledges
she’ll quit the torn bed, the human sluice.
But then in her fist, bills. All the leaks,
contained. Everything held. What Amy seeks.

Liz Robbins