Gordon Lish, The Selected Stories of Gordon Lish (“How To Write a Poem”)

I tell you, I am no more of a sucker for this thing of poetry than the next fellow is. I mean, I can take it or leave it—a certain stewarded pressure, some modulated pissing and moaning… But once in a blue moon I have in hand a poem whose small unfolding holds me to its period. It needn’t be any great shakes, such a poem. I don’t care two pins for what its quality is. Christ, no— literature’s not what I look to poetry for.       Fear is.       You know— like the fear of nothing there.

That old zenophobic fear sucks       PoWorld has no answer for it       Jaysus Mega-

Church of CanPo, duh       Take it or leave it       Pissing in the wind       Wind dript

in your face       Faced with a stiff lit-lite riff       Never shakes out       That’s it,

there —       39 shades of night noise behind your eyes       Once all the other water-

marks float       Revved up 71 percent       Lil’ reverse press seventeener     

 Modulate a miss to a mess       Unfolding blue-tinged moan       Infamy’s no thing in

your eternal hand       A steward’s needles & pins       Next you’re a sucker for

anything else, period.       Poet, you deserve to be voided

Jean-Patrick Manchette, Fatale (opening line; trans, Donald Nicholson-Smith)

The hunters were six in number, men mostly fifty or older, but also two younger ones with sarcastic expressions.

Kill me now, or later?

Braggin’ & raggin’ in the gym

or in the field …

oh ’em dude-bros         oink —

“Porked a dozen B’s just las’ weekend”

She is five foot six

Well bölls me over, trolls

by the numbers, please —

Yep, fifty-six is all on relation•shits    

(ships & giggles, hips & wiggles)

Coexistence is coming up elevenses, squatter

“Your Body, My Choice,” say 4chan

Um-fictional         they jes’ voted last week

con•verted the ever tiring Big O         45’s

now 47  (hoho) —       real teamwork!

Orangutan now on Roids, boyz

Michel Houellebecq, Serotonin (opening line; trans, Shaun Whiteside)

It’s a small, white, scored oval tablet.

Small is good, white is forever throwing shade

(& that’s just not clicket, bluddah)

Like someone scored a century at Lord’s

or a lid behind the library

(We’ve hit numero 100% completion, hon!)

Makes us all happy together

singularly…   even pseudonymously

You never really remember which…

Pls don’t re-uptake this tab inhibitor

let it go, might just be our last

over at the oval

Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet with 26 books in print from BlazeVOX, Chax, Spuyten Duyvil, Ekstasis Editions, Thistledown Press, & others. His personal papers are archived in the “Contemporary Literature Collection” at Simon Fraser University. His website is stephenbett.com

Thoughts from a Quiet Day in Solitude

“We do not learn from experiences; we learn from reflecting on experiences.”—John Dewey 

As I walked along the

        Cracked city sidewalk

A fall leaf fell before my feet

My eyes followed it to its fall from grace

I bent over picked it up and held it to my nose

                    Just then the exhausts of car engines rose

I felt a pang within than sang a voiceless song

                                          Replete with frustration

I closed my eyes and breathed wishing a rush of wind

                             Would sway my fragmentation

Wishing the backdrops in the back of my head were

Orange sunsets and undulating silhouetted mountains

                                                                      and soaring creatures….

But sounds of car horns opened my eyes and

                                      And an android with a cell phone

Pounded into me

Ignorant of the flamboyant fall leaves flirting with alacrity

I know, I know….

Alluding to ANYONE as anything other than a “human being”

Is reductive and divisive,

But I must NOT dissemble in moments when “truth” can heal the victimizer

                                                             And unite a cooperative of victims

I read a decisively severe literary shellacking that wreaked havoc on

The paradoxical and philosophical and inhumane ambiguities

Protruding from our bungling orifices

Why must we identify with

     How we look

     What’s between our thighs

       Who we sleep with

 What we do and

              How much we do it for?

Less you want to create the illusion of knowing anyone

If you know where they come from,

This tells you nothing of their humanity

 It’s time for someone to address the mundanity in questions like

“Where are you from, what do you do, where’d you go to school?”

All nonsense questions to create the illusion of a meaningful conversation

when I’d much rather talk about my study of the pragmatic stoics like

Hellenistic philosopher and founder of the Stoic school of philosophy Zeno of Citium or

Epictetus another Stoic philosopher best known for his works

The Enchiridion (a handbook I possess in my library actually) and his Discourses,

Both foundational works in Stoic philosophy, etc… His most famous quote was:

“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows”

Is that you? Is that me? Is that we?!

Broom away the dirt from your soul to reveal what you probably “think” you knew all along…

How can giants sometimes speak so gently amidst the grandest calamities?

When thoracic arteries with sublime complexities sees humdrum atrocities

     in that moment of clarity

see the grandeur around you

                             And surrender to its glory

J’aime mes livres (I love my books) for they are the map to my soul

Books that I wrote myself for posterity

That my literary art would serve as an

Edification to usher the future to find and know me

For what I was and will forever be in infinity…

Disease of the spirit is when you fail to recognize

                                      Your own growth

Entombed in barking and carping at your failures

You fail to listen to gentle songs of wisdom

From the herds of insanity!

There will come soft rains

Pure and clean as a bucolic silver spring

To wash away the pain

There will come soft rains

Attired in metallic grey and

Be it be a cloudy day,

Brings in the rainbow

To keep the clouds at bay

There will come soft rains,

Run naked and carefree in the torrent

Rediscover forgotten moments of juvenility

Wash away those strains of merging maturity

There will come soft rains

Like a melodic refrain

As I board the regressive train

Back to a place where

Pain no longer reigns

Remember that surrender is

The key to letting go

Remember that surrender is

       The key to personal freedom

Remember that surrender is

 The key to personal power

I surrender

                        Jousting childhood memories

I surrender

                        Pungent adulthood discrepancies

I surrender

                        Mounting life adversities

I surrender to the divine

            All those who are maligned

May they (and I) find the peace and serenity

                        Of the pious and the holy…

Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured Haitian-American Poet, Educator, Author of four books and literary arts student at Harvard University online. His latest publication “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self”   & other titles are available at all Boston Public Libraries, the University of Massachusetts Healey Library, University of  Wyoming , Askews and Holts Library Services in the United Kingdom, The Harvard Book Store, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, amazon etc…  He has been published in prestigious  publications such as Spirit of Change Magazine, Wilderness House Literary Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Litterateur Redefining World anthologies out of India, Poets Reading the News, the Cornell University Press anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene among others…Visit him at:  http://www.authorsden.com/jacquesfleury.

A dead umbrella 

“Be like your father” 

The inimitable pronunciation would pour into ears 

burning lava 

smoky

I have never seen lava, but I swear 

there was nothing less warm than lava in those words. 

Still, one day, with my all patience 

when I myself became 

a father 

When I saw that from inside each sound “father” comes out 

an umbrella 

or an ‘old umbrella’ 

whose cloth is decorated with two and a half hundred holes 

through each hole comes down a seed of a new universe 

a seed is a forest 

a forest is a civilization 

and I realized that I too am a tree 

in that forest sprouting like a leaky umbrella 

in some drowsy corner 

I too have to calculate how much shade 

I can give to my child 

or how much winter warmth I can give? 

And when all these credit and debit are washed off 

again I am on the battlefield like a 

dead umbrella 

A wild slogan will fall through all the living or dead holes 

“I will never be like my father!” 

Writing a good story is something authors pray to be able to do every time we set out to craft a work of fiction. A clear voice and a zesty Imagination typically make for a satisfying fictional read.

When I picked up Nikki Erlick’s contemporary novel titled THE MEASURE, of course, I was hopeful it would be a read well worth the time I would invest. But I had no idea that within the first few pages I’d have my mind turned upside down and inside out; the disturbing tumble unfolding quickly.

The scenario presented involves a date in time when all human beings, 22 yrs or older, across the planet, receive a small wood box on their door step. These boxes appear out of the blue and from who knows where. Inside each box is a single piece of string, which serves to inform each person how long they will live, almost exactly how much time they have left. I scrambled to wrap my brain around the provocative scenario.

I must confess that on that night, after reading the first 75 or so pages, trying to get to sleep proved almost impossible.  I tossed-and-turned in my bed. A sense of dread coursed through my body. What I had taken for granted in terms of being unknown had been thrown out the window by this author. I’m not quite sure why I had such a visceral reaction. I believe it was the combination of personal fear and the sheer intrigue I had, which was generated by Erlick’s inventive premise. Of course, I knew the book was pure fiction but I kept thinking to myself, what if this ever really happened?

Each of the eight lead characters in this novel is deliciously vivid and authentically layered. These individuals come together in a support group held at a school after hours which is located on the upper east side of Manhattan. The purpose of the group’s formation is to help “short stringers” come to terms with the fact that they won’t have the privilege of living a long life. Sean, a therapist and the group’s facilitator, hopes to provide a safe and supportive space for each person to explore and navigate the slippery slope of knowing the difficult truth.

What was so fascinating to me about this read is how each character finds their own unique and personal way of dealing with the harsh reality. My immediate thought: would it be freeing or completely traumatizing to suddenly learn how long you will live and that no matter what you do, there is nothing that will alter your prescribed and timed ending. Your time left is fixed! Period.

Although an extreme theme is presented in this book, there are a number of parallels made relevant to today’s America, brilliantly yet subtly highlighted by the author. At least a few philosophical questions jammed my brain immediately after turning the last page.

So, get ready for a scary and provocative journey that may take you outside your comfort zone. Don’t pass up this opportunity to consider the potential key take-away from this story. It may simply be “live for today.”

If this book is a “pick” for your book club like it was for mine, I predict that your discussion about these colorful characters and the spell-binding plot will be extra rich. And perhaps the depth of the usual sharing of perspectives may go even deeper than your group’s ever been before. The one question that may come up is this:

      If such a tiny wood box holding a single string which indicated the exact amount of time you have left to live, landed on your doorstep, would you open the box to find out or would you put the box away in the very back of your closet, and maybe never open it?

THE MEASURE by Nikki Erlick. I invite all readers, young and old, to enjoy the ride.

Linda S. Gunther is the author of six published suspense novels: Ten Steps from the Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost in the Wake, Finding Sandy Stonemeyer, Dream Beach, and Death is a Great Disguiser. Most recently, her memoir titled A Bronx Girl (growing up in the Bronx in the 1960’s) was released in late 2023. Ms. Gunther’s short stories, poetry, book reviews and essays have been published in a variety of literary journals across the world. Website: www.lindasgunther.com

Most importantly, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PF-5876 dated November 15, 2019 defines the goals, principles and main directions of the state policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of interethnic relations

Firstly, the harmonization of interethnic relations – the formation of constructive and mutually respectful relations between representatives of nations and peoples is explained.

Secondly, the state policy in the field of interethnic relations – consists of the systematic activities of the state in the field of improving and regulating interethnic relations in society, aimed at ensuring the Constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, their equality before the law, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, language, religion, social origin, beliefs, personal and social status.

Thirdly, interethnic tolerance is a social norm of civil society, manifested in a spirit of compromise towards the views, religions, customs, traditions and culture of representatives of other nations and peoples that do not contradict universal human values.

Of course, the “Day of Friendship of Peoples” serves to further develop interethnic relations and friendly ties with foreign countries in New Uzbekistan, to demonstrate that exemplary socio-economic, cultural-educational and legal conditions have been created for the effective implementation of the state policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of preserving and developing the language, culture, traditions and customs of representatives of various nations and peoples living in our republic. In order to achieve these great and noble goals, July 30 is widely celebrated in Uzbekistan every year as the “Day of Friendship of Peoples”. May this holiday be blessed for our tolerant people living in our homeland, where human dignity is honored.

Aminova Dilbar, a first-year student at the Urgench branch of the Tashkent Medical Academy.

Mom 

Running along the paths of life

My mother is worried about her livelihood. 

Praise all that I have done,

My mother did not escape the torment of fate. 

Izma ran after me, 

My mother carried me without letting go. 

If I fall, pick me up, caress me, 

My mother who looked lovingly into my eyes. 

Even if he doesn’t wear it himself, he puts it on me,

My mother is frozen in the bitter cold. 

My child fed me that I ate,

My mother didn’t tell me even though she was hungry.  

Caressing my face 

My mother never tired of stroking my head. 

Sacrifice your life for me 

I don’t know how old you are. 

“Tiresias Disrobes”
by Mark Blickley
“A prayer for the wild at heart kept in cages.”
~ Tennessee Williams

One day in ancient Greece, Tiresias was walking down a path when he was interrupted by two snakes copulating on the road, blocking his way. Tiresias got so angry that he took his staff and killed one of the snakes. It turned out to be the female s/erpent. What Tiresias didn’t know was that these snakes were guarding Hera’s sacred tree with golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides. Hera’s rage, upon learning of the death of her beloved female guardian snake, was to turn Tiresias into a woman.

For ten years Tiresias lived as a woman. And not just as any woman, but the town whore. One day the female Tiresias was walking down a path and once again came upon two snakes copulating. She killed one and this time it turned out the slain serpent was male, so Hera changed him back to a male. These gender transformations made Tiresias the only man in the history of the world to have been both a man and a woman.

Years later, Zeus and Hera were having a terrible fight on Mount Olympus about who enjoys sex more, the man or the woman. Hera had caught her insatiable husband once again cheating on her. Zeus roared females enjoy sex more than men. Hera called him a liar and claimed females accommodate the male out of duty, not pleasure.

Zeus called her a liar. Hera screamed back that her husband was a Trickster and a vicious rapist. Their battle over which gender derives the greatest satisfaction from carnal knowledge went on for days. A frustrated Hera finally decided to summon Tiresias to Mount Olympus to settle their heated dispute. Tiresias’ unique experience of indulging in sexual intercourse as both a man and a woman could supply the definitive answer.

Poor Tiresias was summoned to the foot of their thrones where Hera ordered him to respond to the question of whom achieves more satisfaction from sexual intercourse—the man or the
woman. Tiresias drew a breath, fearful of the consequences of any opinion he would admit. But he decided to tell the truth and answered, “It is nine parts female, one part male.”

An enraged Hera did not allow Tiresias to explain which nine parts favored women and what
single part favored men because she immediately blinded him for exposing her feminine truth to Zeus, thus losing their argument.

One god cannot undo the spell of another god, not even the King of the Gods, Zeus. Yet taking pity on Tiresias, Zeus decided to give the poor man the gift of inner version, the prophetic insights of a seer, to compensate for his wife physically blinding Tiresias due to his honesty.

This is how Tiresias became the blind seer who foretold Oedipus that he would kill his father and copulate with his mother.
I’ve spent years wondering which nine parts of human sexuality Tiresias claims favor women
and what was the only part that favored men because I’ve wanted to write a one-man (sic) play about Tiresias that finally exposes his responses to his ten-point comparison of which gender receives the greatest pleasure. Here’s my list:

Nine Parts to the Women:
#1. Women have orgasms not men. Men have ejaculations. Women can achieve an orgasmic altered state whereas men most often just feel a profound sense of relief. The patriarchy calls ejaculations orgasms because they never want women to consider themselves superior in any way, so they pretend the sexual experience is equal for both genders.
#2. Men most often strain to finish with a grunt of relief, whereas women shriek in ecstasy.
#3. Women are sexually superior to men because they have the courage to join the dual
nature of pain with pleasure.
#4. A woman can tell if a man is sexually aroused by looking at his erection. A woman’s
response isn’t obvious, so she can make the male work harder to prove his manhood by feigning a lack of desire so he puts more effort into pleasing her. His testosterone will poison his ego if he thinks he’s not as desirable or can’t please. Viewing his erection is a visual power she can withhold from him.

As opposed to male performance anxiety, a woman can enjoy sexual pleasure when she turns her brain off and is calm, which shows that a woman also has a brain she can control below her waist.
#6. Women can have multiple orgasms so she can accept many more sexual partners in a day while men are busy recovering from their ejaculations. Thus, if one male partner doesn’t satisfy her, she can immediately move on to another lover.
#7. The clitoris alone has over 8,000 nerve endings to enhance pleasure. The penis has less than half that number of nerve endings.
#8 “When you scratch the inside of your ear using your finger, which one feels better? The finger or the ear?”
#9 While men’s sex organs serve more than one function, a woman’s clitoris has no other
purpose but to give her pleasure during sex.

One Part to Men:
A male having sex with a female does not have to suffer the fear of pregnancy or childbirth.

Mark Blickley grew up within walking distance of New York’s Bronx Zoo. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and PEN American Center. His latest book is the flash fiction collection, ‘Hunger Pains’ (Buttonhook Press).