Steak & French Fries by Bradley Mason Hamlin

STEAK & FRENCH FRIES

that moment
when you take in the breath
hold it
she’s on top
moving in slow circles
you think about Jesus
burning on the cross
you can call it
tantric
sex magic
or some other bullshit
but it’s really
just
holding your breath
while relaxing
with a little time
travel
thrown in
the same feeling
you get
when suddenly
on too big of a wave
or rushing down
rabbit fast
on the powder
you hold the world
still
inside your gut
love fills your heart
even if your veins
are clogged with American
fast food
the pump
like mystic Oriental gong
flows
until the last note
sung
against your fragile lips.

–Bradley Mason Hamlin

Walnut Creek Fault Finding by Stephen Morse

Walnut Creek Fault Finding

1.

My blonde
suburban
mother tries to
fly
in the socialite
newspaper
dumb show
of Bales Drive
under the dry
white sky
land abandoned
by the deer and
the crow:

2.

co-opted by the
claustrophobic
cat
domestica and
slobber-jawed
dog
snapping
cookie kids and
a flock of bat
toting young
hands fondling
a green-tree
frog.

3.

a word-camp
of post war
blood white,
and blue
anger flaring
soul drying
sodium.
Parents cured
broiled
bland by the
great war
smoked in
mushroom
deaths, we find
faults
to ignore

–Stephen Morse