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 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Nat Lipstadt
no way you could know that
I have driven US 80, when
the Pennsylvania Turnpike
was considered a legitimate deathtrap,
and 80 was a god-send

shuttling back and forth tween
Cleveland (o/k/a The  Burning River City) and NYC,
in the crappiest weather man
could just about tolerate,
and 84 was just an
incomplete dream then,
so we one day,
could skip that idlewild,
Passaic, New Jersey,
back in '69

indeed the Pocono deer that
came through the windshield,
luckily, legs first,
after smashing the radiator,
that I dragged by hooves
to the side of the road,
still well recall, for that
was the first time I touched a
living thing dying in my hands

when I broke my arm in
Tannersville one summer night,
they drove me to the big city,
Scranton,
woo hoo,
cause the break was bad ,
they need to operate,
so they left me there,
w/o any anesthetic,
in the hallway(!) till morn
and a "see ya later kid,"
how they did things in a tough place
known as central Penna.,
which now I think of
semi-fondly as the place where
a piece of me was left buried
and I am still alive to swell tell

but people were tougher back then,
even me, a city 13 year old boy,
cause I had dreams of  girls,
wonderful girls, who had powers in their bodies
that could do things to me in the Poconos forests,
that were unthinkable (for them) after crossing
over the Hudson River,
and that was plenty
anesthetizing

so dem my bona fides,

and Now I Will Write
just another overdue thank you
for Balise, who writes
with a coolest heated blazing detachment,
and then at the very end,
IN ALL CAPS,
smacks you on the head
via the heart

writin'  
of
this n' that,
Mass and men,
worshipping a river called the Lackawanna,
the bleakness of a not quite grimy poverty,
(I worked in  Republic Steel warehouse)
that made grey a bright color,
and the sun was invisible from October to May,
in a world where people PROUDLY,
clung to their guns and religion,
(you arrogant out of touch Harvardian snob,
Mr. Obama prima donna),
you had to see it to believe it

of
herons and beer cans,
of parents and pain,
so exquisitely,
that I would gladly
drive to Tannersville again,
right now,
if I could, if I could,
yet learn that skill under her tutelage,
which by the by, is why some call me
still crazy, still crazy, after all those years,
crazy from a balise,
a wintry blizzard heating the readers eyes, and
who reads my footnotes
and thus
only this woman,
knows, better than she ever realized,
where his undulatin' poems come from...
 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Rebecca Shain
***** feet, happy heart,
Rolling on the grass, kissing under the stars,
Your hands on my body make me feel like this is what living is supposed to be,
I've waited all my life to be touched the way you touch me,
To be held,
To be cared for,
To be told I'm beautiful,
I've waited all my life to have someone who sees me as a person, as an individual with thoughts and knowledge rather than just a body,
I've waited all my life to be seen.
 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Art
Photograph
 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Art
Photograph

I looked at a face
no longer there.
A frozen smile,
familiar and warm.
Once young,
now old.
Gone with time and
long forgotten.

Eyes lingering on  
pasty ink
paled by rays of sun.

Cradling a frame of a
foregoing time,
fingertips brushing
against a landscape once familiar,
now faded.
 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Randall Walker
I’m cocky, I’m clumsy,
Fumbling about everywhere;
Catching applause, dodging boos,
I am addicted to the fear.
Then, Cortisol spikes,
Please don’t leave me left alone again.
I’ve talked too long to Wall,
And it’s drips are dropping in.
From the lashes of my eyes
To my ten ice-tipped toenails,
I’m shivering, alone, destined to just—

—Warmth interrupts.
On my bed sits a Person.
I’m startled, taken aback.
I pressed end,
A new song began.
This person takes a gentle breath,
Blows it out light,
Expels all my demons.
A world's revealed, seems alright:
One where I don’t have to fight?
The binary: break through or break down?
Faking, then overtaxing, my mental might?
My complex analyses of everything,
—My foremost forte—
Was the invisible tangible holding me back.
How silly of me
To make power moves in a vacuum
At terminal velocity,
Until, by degrees, I was turned off track,
Distracted by these demented deals,
The fine print details that I needed, but lack,
And its back to the yard, then back to the—

—Warmth interrupts.
My Person takes my hand,
Pulls us back,
Till side by side
We lay.
I close my eyes,
And forget that wall,
Forget all those screaming caterwauls,
Forget the hate, the pain, the torture,
Though I still hear it call.

All it took was all there is,
Two hands clasped
In a bed for
One.
I used to think love was *******,
That it was fantasy,
Then someone had the urge
To take a chance on me.

I found it to be fantasy,
                                                     our Ups
And yes, of course, we've had
                                                     our Downs

But, I'm choiceless in the matter—
My heart does the work for free—
And I think, I hope, I believe
I'm destined for her, and her for me.
 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Nooraay
Alone
 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Nooraay
What I wanted is gone
pieces are left
Memories shattered and
Life came to an end
What Started is finished now
It was all beautiful has now come to an end
Its dark again


What I wanted
has been here the whole time
It took me to long to realise
Everything has come to an end
Was it the beginning
Or the end?
I miss those eyes
The smell
The life
everything was so real and alive
Now just shattered memories and lies
Never to see him again
Would I? :')
 Sep 2017 Anomaly
Nooraay
When i'm going through the pain
When it's all in vain
When i'm broken in my bed
When i'm falling from the heights
When I put the world aside
When there's no light
When life becomes a lie
When im standing in the dark
When the time stretches by
When wind blew high
When the stroms tear apart
When the moon split in half
When I crawled in the dark
When I hear only howls
When I see no light
When I'm standing at the edge
When I don't feel alive
When I feel so lone
But I fear no more
It's not something new
Something I've been through
everyday and night.
But all I need is you.
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