----------------------------------------------------------------------
to try harder
 

i usually have to be

pretty fucking close

to drunk off my ass

to try to talk to any

beautiful woman

i don't know

 

i remember a night

in a club back in

my twenties where

i approached this

gorgeous black

woman and said

some gibberish

 

she laughed and

told me to try

harder

 

i laughed and said

something stupid

enough to make

her smile and tell

me to go get her

a drink

 

when i came back

 

she was making out

with some other guy

 

apparently, i wasn't

drunk enough for the

beer muscles to kick

in

 

but i did enjoy her

amaretto sour
-----------------------------------------------------------------
the locusts
 

happiness is

one of those

rare events

anymore

 

i treat it like

a comet or

the locusts

 

it's not what

i want in my

life, but i

suppose it's

just the way

it is

 

they say

money can't

buy happiness

 

well guess

what

 

neither can

being poor
----------------------------------------------
in cowboy boots
 

drove past a woman

mowing her grass

in cowboy boots

 

i smiled

 

got home to find

my grass being

cut by the cousin

that molested me

as a child

 

i don't think

you'd call this

a smile
--------------------------------------------------------
the lines of pain
 

trace

the

lines

of pain

on this

broken

face

 

the

sweet

caress

of your

bloody

fingers

 

may

it be

the

last

thing

i

remember
--------------------------------------------------
looking for trouble
 

it's been years since

i went out drinking

looking for trouble

 

the last time that

happened i was

taking a girl to

go buy crack at

seven in the

morning

 

after a long night

of drinking and

fucking around

in some strip

clubs

 

looking back

 

i probably should

have had her buy

some for me


J.J. Campbell (1976 - ?) is old enough to know better. He's been widely published over the years, most recently at Disturb the Universe Magazine, The Beatnik Cowboy, Horror Sleaze Trash, The Rye Whiskey Review and The Asylum Floor. He has a new book out with Casey Renee Kiser from RaVenGhost Press, Altered States of The Unflinching Souls. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)

Avianics

Slightly south. Woolwash

Lagoon. This is the black

swans’ waterspace. Their

movement full of grace,

calming, better than yoga

or deep breathing. & across

the water two raptors, prob-

ably black-tailed kites, para-

llel paths & then a sudden

plunge, swirling, turning &

turning in the gyre, a perfect

double helix courting ritual.

They near the ground. Any

smaller bird goes running.

Eventually, fly species

Children may resist the bug to experi-

ment at times & get adult authority

but their great rental yield is

inspirational & transformational

so I Entreaty for Your Collaboration

in Reception of a Help validating &

prioritizing old-growth forest remnants

& never went to the authorities.

My agonist aunt writes

To dampen the effect of sex

pheromones on the mixperson

when making a cake concoction

from backyard grasses & pain-

reducing medicines, it is often

efficacious to include infusions

of green tea with bee honey &

Citrus limonum to reduce any

antagonism &/or destructive

conflict arising in nearby gynes.

An / epic art / fraudster tells all

Here in the Tampa Bay area, the

big-eyed children — alluring,

at times unbelievable — deliver

a musical version of caveat emptor,

swinging easily into the melody

even though their grasp on the

words is a bit rough at times &

the wifi on the property isn’t al-

ways effective. Still, being able

to sit in a lawn chair & listen to

intermittent music is better than

adhering to the mitigation hier-

archy. Maybe reset the network.

Or, perhaps, calm down, lie flat.

other than illicit acts

A common phrase among

scientists & students is that

a cartel exists, induced by

climatic & anthropogenic

factors, & that could quite

easily cause changes to the

serotoninergic & immune

systems of linguistic search

engines. But more research

is needed — another common

phrase from the same cohort.

GOD, THE WAY TO DIVINE LOVE

A Psalm-inspired prayer for God’s way to Love: “Show me Your way to love, O Lord, Teach me to love like You, with a heart that’s pure and true....”

My heart is true to you my Heavenly Father. I have witnessed pain in many ways in my heart. Without you, my heart refuses to continue in life. You have restored my love for you each morning.

Each day when the sun rises and the cardinals sing. I whisper to you my love and praise your Holy name. It is your grace above all else I received from You. You remind me that my life has not been empty, But rather full of joy, and, serenity, and grace. Your grace has released me of much suffering.

Many times I have knelt at the altar of lights. It is the warmth of Your divine goodness I found. I have seen the stars and the moon shining bright. It has been in the cool early morning I pray to You. Each
prayer there is mercy which fills my heart. Each breath and each heartbeat reminds me of Your divine nature in which all of creation breathes. My heart beats slowly, as I listen for Your whisper of love.

(To Anita)

Secret Missions

She kept her words to herself

eyes closed

moving her lips

believing with knowing

the far tint of stars

above the city roofs

long walks

in the peace of night

after pausing in a quest of answers

she knew more than the teachers

hammered by repetition

and their stamp of pride

her writings

finding an audience

to her surprise

her papers fluttering in the wind

with angel wings

on thousands of missions.

A PROMISE FULFILLED
    "As Two Souls Join"

Our hearts are adorned by the beauty of purity and love
We are one heart that resides in two bodies
Our souls blend easily and can not be separated
Every feeling and emotion is shared without shame
for there is only pureness in such a joining 
Every emotion drenches my being 
Every touch is felt deeply and is welcomed with pleasure
Your intoxicating scent fills my nostrils 
causing my body to shiver as our souls join
Hear my sighs and let me take in your every breath
until the thunder claps and the lightning strikes 
within the realm that we share
When the silence comes, the promise is fulfilled
I will be with you in every turn of our lives
and will reside with you in eternity when I take my last breath...



MY SACRED SONG

I am the bluest sky that holds your sunlight
The memories in a tear that falls from your eye
I feel you walking in the garden of my love
Praying those prayers meant only for me
I sing of your love like a sacred song from Heaven
O' my greatest purpose in life, never stray from me
I open the doors of my heart so our love can fly free
Like a beautiful Phoenix that rises from the ashes
The loneliness inside of you will disappear once again
Where only the colors of love will remain forever
And a golden chain will tightly bind our hearts together.


Kristy Raines was born in Oakland California, in the United States of America. She is a poet and author. Kristy has five books which have not yet been published. One with a prominent poet from India, and four of her own books, which she hopes will publish this year. She  has received many literary awards for her unique style of writing. Kristy is a former civil servant for the United States and later retired from the medical field.

Five One-Line Haiku

rose blooms of mid-June a dandelion gone to seed

—

near sunset summer’s first bat circles above Broadway

—

staring contest a small rabbit hops out of a bush onto the sidewalk

—

morning errands little horseflies bite my calves & ankles

—

were crews able to put out the fire a bit hazy this morning

—

bio/graf

J. D. Nelson is the author of eleven print chapbooks and e-books of poetry, including *purgatorio* (wlovolw, 2024). His first full-length collection is *in ghostly onehead* (Post-Asemic Press, 2022). Visit his website, MadVerse.com, for more information and links to his published work. Nelson lives in Boulder, Colorado, USA.