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The Cavalier Poet
By Adreyo Sen
QuailBellMagazine.com
It was after the funeral.
Your eyes met mine across the strained formalities marching across the pained blue plains of the ceiling. Perhaps, I thought, they allowed the hint of a smile to cloud my thoughts. So lovely I knew was your smile, as sweet as an apple covered in sugar. But my thoughts were a powerless sky over the sea of gravy that was my plate, impotent over the placid islands of chicken. Despite your silent importuning, I chose to worship my stomach. I let boredom be your fate, but I did not intend for a drunk uncle to disgorge his affection onto your lap. But why did you kick me on your way out, dearest? That really hurt.
#Unreal #Poetry #Funeral #Cavalier #Imagery #Hunger #Pain #Rejection
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Wearing His Red Faja
By Lee Ballentine
QuailBellMagazine.com she has gone out carrying a white gourd like a lunar fragment covered with dust she has gone down the hallway of his house in the dark down its faces of old tambourines and clocks and tracks of frazzled lightning and she has gone out the door of the house he returns to like a dog returning to the grave of its dead master The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
How To: RecoverMemorize what she ate, make it for dinner eat alone, hands are hawks swimming in air above the plate, never touching down but always hunting. Set for sea at dark hips groaning to the shore, but lips never touching slick surface. #Unreal #Poetry #Micro #Poem #Photography #HowTo #Hunger #Thirst #Satiation Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Sky Is Not Falling
By Emma Koch
QuailBellMagazine.com Attention all readers: we will be experiencing a cosmic lunar event tomorrow afternoon at approximately 12:07.314 pm, lasting the amount of time it takes you to make pancakes Christmas morning or the length of two of your deceased father’s vinyl records: whichever comes last. To fully enjoy this unique occurrence experts recommend wearing sunglasses in the shapes of cookie cutters or dancing with your lover to Freddie Mercury’s “Killer Queen” depending on what you find more age appropriate. Speaking of age, did you know the next family member who will experience such an event is either your great7 grandchild or great-13 grandparent depending on if you’re a glass half empty or glass half full kind of person. Although focus groups tell us both will find this event “enjoyable” or “just what this country needs” one is statistically more likely to believe that the enveloping darkness is a signal of the coming Armageddon, but our chaplain on call urges you not to be alarmed and reminds you that it is only God winking at us. When you go outside with your children and raise your fingers as if the sky (the same sky, biologists urge us to remember we have lived under all our lives) was a graffiti’d up Sistine Chapel and the only word you knew in Italian was “old shoe”, remind them that the next world is coming. We have no guarantee its blackouts will be so welcoming. When its sun vanishes you will have no way of knowing when it will come out again, if God will open His eyes to let you know it was all a joke. So be sure to set your watches because the next one will not be predetermined, but built from your coal-black kitchen tables and jamboree radios and back yard churches. Though we are not authorities on the subject we think it will be quite beautiful.
#Unreal #Poetry #Satire #Apocalypse #EndoftheWorld #Human #Life #Celestial #Eclipse
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Give A Holler to the Changing of the Guard
By Gerard Sarnat
QuailBellMagazine.com
Past the doorman of a complex that used to be Lake Michigan
Gold Coast material but’s become where widows pass their last tarnished days, instead of usual stairs, this less than dutiful 70 year-old smoker takes the wheezing lift to 3B. When Dad died of lung cancer, considering removal of the peeling bit of return address sticker from which surgeon Bernie cut everything except B. G. Sarnat, I decided to leave it between the crotchety knocker and spy hole. Springing forward to today’s delving May day, sniffing jacaranda on the boulevard from her steely wheelchair, Mother mumbled, “I’m younger than you now. Son, I worry your hacking cough might not make it to my wonderful hundredth birthday party.” After I snipped the big galoot’s B. off the door. Mom romped, “Gerry, I eat those words -- you are now the man of my house.”
#Unreal #HospitalRoom #LungCancer #Family #LifeAndDeath #BecomingAMan
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Thomas James 4: Meeting With Officer Jarvis
By Kiki Stamatiou
QuailBellMagazine.com
“Thomas, instead of having you do volunteer work in a soup kitchen, I talked to a woman who owns a little eatery. It’s called The Southfield Kitchen. It’s not too far from here. The lady’s name is Sarah Cummings. She’ll be expecting you to report to work today at 3 p.m.” Officer Jarvis Maxwell informed Thomas James, while handing him the slip of paper with all the pertinent information.
“But, I was thinking I could volunteer at the Soup Kitchen to do community service. After all, I owe that much to society, to the girl whose life I took that day, to her brother, and their entire family. I owe amends to God, and…” “Son, hadn’t you learned anything Father Samuels taught you. It’s important to forgive yourself. You’ve already made amends for what you’ve done. Fifteen years is a long time for a man so young to have been locked up in jail. You paid your debt to society. Now, it’s time to make a fresh start. It will be ups and downs in life, but not so bad as they were when you were growing up. You deserve a second chance in life, seen as how you weren’t given a fair chance the first time around. I admire you for wanting to take responsibility for what you’ve done. But punishing yourself isn’t going to bring the girl back. “Don’t we all wish it were possible to bring loved ones back from the dead so we could be happy and enjoy time with them? I know what you’re going through son. Before I became an officer of the law, I was a criminal at a young age. I fractured the law. Well, a few of them anyway, when I was young. What I’m trying to say is you’re not alone when it comes to making mistakes. Some folks make bigger mistakes than others. Let me tell you something, young man, if I could turn my life around, and believe me when I say I wasn’t perfect, I believe you can do that, as well. I believe you can. Why I was put in juvenile home for 3 ½ years for beating up a man in a party store, a clerk, mind you, because he wouldn’t sell me any cigarettes. I had some hard knocks in life. Like me, you’re not a lost cause.” The two men got up from their seats, approached each other and shook each other’s hand. “Thomas. Remember what I told you. You are not alone in this world. You have my number. Call me anytime you need to talk or if you have any questions about goals in life that you may want to pursue. I mean anything at all,” Officer Jarvis Maxwell cheerfully informed him. “Thank you, sir,” Thomas James replied while heading out the door of Officer Jarvis Maxwell’s office with a new stride in his step, because for the first time in a long, long, time, he wasn’t alone in the world. He had a friend in Officer Jarvis Maxwell.
#Unreal #ThomasJames #Series #OfficerJarvis #FindingNewFriends #BeginningAgain
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Feminism, Authenticity, and Satire: The Artwork of Courtney PortoBy Courtney Porto
QuailBellMagazine.com *Editor's Note: Born and raised in Omaha, NE, Courtney Kenny Porto, is known for her charcoal drawings and yarn paintings. Porto’s work focuses largely on satire, authenticity, and feminism, three concepts she feels strongly about. Porto Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bethany College (Lindsborg, KS) with a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art. She has exhibited work in numerous juried and solo exhibitions throughout the United States. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Popped Hot Air Balloon, And Suckers
By Gerard Sarnat
QuailBellMagazine.com
"Big Red was her favorite horse until I stripped down.”
-- Charles “Hank” Bukowski Born Andernach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, raised South Central LA, racetracks back in the Reagan years may have been Buk’s version of Herman Hesse´s anti-fascist Magister Ludi. There was a bunch of us cocky experts who hung out besotted among the crappy leftover buntings and balloons at the top of Hollywood Park’s stretch section of the bleachers. Practically every day I was there, including the weekend of our high school ball. Hank sat about ten rows behind -- even worse view albeit the decisive action takes place around that turn. The huge beast who didn’t wear clothes well was always alone. Finally I got up the nerve to ask him to autograph the Daily Racing Form I gave to my kind of date instead of a corsage. One day following him through the trash of torn tickets to the $2 window, we couldn't believe our ears: Hank bet the goddamn favorite to show! For all his horse race ruminations, the Master of the Game actually knew nothing.
#Unreal #Bukowski #BigRed #PoppedHotAirBalloon #BeatPoets #Germany
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Charlie Zain
A little girl, who was grasping her mother’s hand tightly, craned her neck and stared up into the sky. People bustled by, talking on their cell phones and carrying their briefcases, their perfectly shined shoes clicking across the sidewalk as they passed. They were like cattle, blindly bumping into each other and shuffling through the concrete maze.
“Maawwwmm!!,” the little girl whined, yanking on her mother’s hand and planting her feet, still staring upwards. Lillian, her mother, simply ignored her, dragging her along while talking into the phone pressed to her ear. “Mom!” the girl screeched, yanking her mother’s arm as hard as she could. “Stop!” The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Water Snake
In the Bayous of Southern Louisiana, there was once was a boy who lived in the swamps alone. The boy had always been an orphan, and lived by fishing and catching wild animals with his bare hands. One day, the boy was fishing when he suddenly caught a snake on his fishing line. He reeled the snake up, wondering whether or not he should release the creature.
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