more 10-liners from readers

A Proposal
by Kevin V.

What do you say
You and I
Make love on the carpet
Bruising our knees in the process
Of coupling like lions intent on the struggle
Insisting that wildness is part of our nature
'Til panting and laughing we come disentangled
Washed off our backs with loofahs and kisses
Got dressed
And went to dinner?


Untitled
by Judi P.

She was exhausted with the effort.
that part of herself that was that was once her self
had somehow disappeared.

So she pretended, and smiled, and tried to attend,
but it was difficult

because the part of herself
that remembered her self
was screaming.

And she could no longer hear
anything but the deafening sound of the scream. Aaahhh.



Toledo for Tourists (Halloween or no Halloween)
by Mark C.

After dark they move about, the mothlike old priests flit,
Through narrow streets, red-eyed and gaunt. The Lupine edicts cross
The land, unleashed by their powdered hands, the town sleeps
Like a crocodile and though the hairy handed goldsmith buys us drinks,
Its time to go.
Your green river, your knives, your marzipan and ghosts,
Your algebra and orchards, your dusty violins
Barking from windows while the sun lights Visigothic pillars,
Your Moorish streets broke our wing mirrors.
They’re going to know.


defending yourself
by Brad Y.

Another statistic is published, another phone call
"Do you still have that motorcycle?... Do you AT LEAST wear a helmet?"

fire up the Harley, roar out of the neighborhood
the journey calls, the new roads unridden
the smells are really quite diverse, you'd never know in the car
when the miles roll on my gas-tank odometer - the stresses roll on off
Sometimes it takes 200 miles before I forget....about the duties, the chores, the mind-numbing routine
and of course, the phone calls....
"WHY do you still have that motorcycle?... Do you AT LEAST wear a helmet?"
... and I think about those poor fuckers who died eating bad spinach.