The Professional
— Joe Maynard
“That’s the good thing;
about my profession,”
she said
putting her hand on my arm
while her other hand
gestured
palm up
with lipstick clad filter
sandwiched between her index
and bird finger
like a smoldering
clitoris.
“All you have to know
is how to use the phone.”
Buddhist Barbie
— Denise Duhamel
In the 5th century B.C.
an Indian philosopher
Gautama teaches “All is emptiness”
and “There is no self.”
In the 20th century A.D.
Barbie agrees, but wonders how a man
with such a belly could pose,
smiling, and without a shirt.
The End
— Diana Raab
How is it that a premonition
slips under the layers of my tentacles
waving a signal that tomorrow
is the end of something
which I do not know,
while I try to whisper
and grasp my desires
as temptation tries to whisk
me from the moment.
I cannot, because
one more slippage of disaster
will send me six feet under
without ever tasting the sweet
juice of change and the
euphoria of saying good-bye.
I am sorry.
image: Shannon Cannings, Trigger Happy, 2008
* Contributor Andy Fox has worked as a private investigator and a bartender. He’s also edited a book of poetry and plays in the D.C. band Nice Breeze. He has published The Dust Congress since November 2002.
