Author: Travis Shosa
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Two Poems by stephanie anderson
with love, public servant i laughed by the copier in the center of the librarywith the lanyard on my neck and his papers in my handsit was the day before the holidays and i was sick of being the tentpole of my own mistakes and neededto be the bitch instead so i made this tremored…
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Fresh Prince of Ballynanty
The wheels on the bus go round and round. Round and round. Round… …and round… *** O’Brien’s has a pool table. It’s got a counter where you can rest your elbow on to take it all in while ya shout abuse at Peader the Bull sittin’ in his usual corner beside the jacks. He’s some…
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Tide pool, fish bowl, blue blood, black light
At the aquarium, I wonder if the fish rememberthe sea or if anywhere can be freedomif you’ve never seen your enclosure’s walls.Maybe some oceans are only as large as adew drop, sucked up in a jellyfish heartbeatby a wandering bee’s proboscis. And maybe,just maybe, some oceans have hard edgesand bucktooth children tapping at the glass.The…
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Red, They Are Cherry Red
The Slack message says Elea came looking for me at my desk while I stepped out for a moment. No matter. I unplug my laptop, take the mouse, and head over to her room. I call out her name at the doorway, nod, and she turns toward me in agreeable surprise, saying she didn’t see…
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A Blue Arrow In, a Blue Arrow Out
You don’t wait for me that afternoon. By the time I have wrapped up and am at the gate, you are gone. Scanning the pavement in front as far as my eyes go, I don’t see you. I pull up my hoodie and begin walking. Much later, I find a text, Hey! Had to leave.…
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ripped off
always said i’d come with you to your breast reductionalways said i wanted what you got taken off put onthere’s more of me now and none of it’s youfor an evening or half of one i remembereveryone’s someone will be taken away from themhow i sneered at the way you found god in something i…
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The Deluxe
When the associate waved me into the mani-pedi palace, directing me towards a row of plushy chairs in the back, I gave her the gift certificate I’d stolen from Miss McClure on Teacher’s Day. She looked at the gift certificate then at me, something serious to her stare. One deluxe package? she asked. My stomach…
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A Very Good Song
I remember when Lucy Grace rode in the backseat of my Civic to the gourmet hot dog cart five minutes from the office, and the carefully curated mix CD I’d loaded played “I Want You” by Bob Dylan. Lucy Grace said she liked that song, a point I weighted with false significance for the implications…
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Two Poems by Will Russo
The Boxer Slight bent knees, butt back, perfectbow of the legs to sure the stance.Tender covered wrists in shameof their weaponhood. Modestya baggy short, cock light and foldedon the thighs. His body argument,thrown sixes, he fell in full delight—and rushed and made alive his thrillas others do chance and gamble, the passiveand the active. Above-belt…
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Higher Callings
He had moved to Trieste as a dog walker after too many rounds of Turkish tummy. The bora snapped the laundry on the line. She was trying to make him walk straighter. Go to it, she said. But he didn’t go to it. Going to it would require some other special arrangements. He stood at…