Goines On: Earth to earth

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On Goines and his wife’s first drive to the airport the morning they would fly to Minnesota, before they discovered they’d left a bag at home, she had told Goines of spotting a couple of young deer on her walk the day before, as they were emerging from the remaining forest of the housing development adjacent to the Goines’ neighborhood. That had been the first time she’d seen deer in there, and she attributed it to their loss of habitat.

America’s Froth of July

By Moristotle









Worshippers pump up his act of demigod,
rallying to bump him to an epilogue,
    playing their role assigned, his chumps,
    repeating loud his smashing thumps,
humping to install him two-term demagogue.

Copyright © 2019 by Moristotle

Roger’s Reality: We heard it

By Roger Owens

His son. His son. He buried his son. We heard it. Not the actual, physical interment – the funeral. For hours we could hear the black women wailing, the preaching, the church music. It was across the little branch of the Layou River known as the D’Leau Manioc. The D’Leau Manioc runs right in front of the bungalow at Zen Gardens, where we were staying, in the tiny Caribbean island known as Dominica. Zen Gardens is in Bells. Bells is a tiny village in a tiny island. To call it a wide spot in the road is to denigrate the road. When something happens in Bells, you can hear it.

Empathy (a poem)

By Geoffrey Dean















When you sought the self-same size
Was it really me you thought
Or yourself in soles disguised?

Goines On: Nature trails

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While Goines had enjoyed his cardio walk following the slender, dark-haired woman and her dog for a couple of blocks, he later felt a bit uneasy about having done it. How could Goines not be shy about people knowing or even just suspecting that he was attracted to a number of women in the neighborhood, that he was drawn to attractive women – attractive in either body or soul, if they had shown him their soul.

All Over the Place: The snake god sings

By Michael H. Brownstein











How do you create sunlight and good day?
Three parts flour juice, opaque and measures,
furious greens, the grand shadow of the great oak
near the high ridge beyond the slow moving water,

Drive sober, or it’s all over

By Moristotle

Road signs in Maryland warn, “Drive sober” –
they say to do it “or get pulled over.”
    Drinkers who think it will not show,
    if they let up and drove real slow,
get told, when stopped, they were drifting all over.

Copyright © 2019 by Moristotle

Goines On: Act like it

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On the third night of trusting that he would awaken spryly the next morning, Goines had been a bit bolder than on the previous two nights, this time also affirming that the skin and muscles around his head would feel loose and relaxed. And the following morning he did feel significantly better than anticipated, as evidenced by the heightened vigor of his morning stretches. Goines’ body felt younger than usual, even vibrant.

Fiction: Jaudon – An American Family (a novel) [3]

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Chapter 3. Houston

James screamed at the sight of Chassy’s limp body. There was a hole in her back from the Henry rifle’s bullet, which seemed to have killed her instantly. He threw his arms around her and pulled her to him. He held her in his lap, rocking her and crying until at last Sara touched his arm. “James, we have to get across the Sabine before nightfall.”

Sketches from the Twin Cities: walk along pond’s path

remembering a Fish Lake pond, late summer 2017

By Geoffrey Dean

on a fallen branch
seven turtles in the sun –
blur of water’s edge

twig-snap is the cause
diving turtles the effect –
ripples and bubbles

Goings On: Cardio walk

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Goines’ wife asked him whether he had had a good cardio walk. He said he had. “I walked at a pace of 16 minutes and 20 seconds a mile.”
    He hadn’t felt like walking fast when he left the house. And he almost forgot to start Runkeeper before starting out leftward to follow their street around the neighborhood. About a hundred yards ahead of him, a woman in black shorts was walking her dog. No longer accompanied by Ziggy, Goines decided to fall in behind the pair, and sped up a bit.

All Over the Place: Long hair/strong hair

By Michael H. Brownstein











That year spring did not come to Mid-Missouri.
My hair flowed into curls and arcs
so thick the sounds of the ocean vibrated through them.

The Loneliest Liberal: Speed, in numerous forms

By James Knudsen

If I were to recount my travels since the beginning of this month, you would probably expect a high-minded tale of theatre and ivory-towered academia. But this is going to be me. The end of the school year means that educators get time off and college students come home for the summer. My fiancée, Melany, her daughter Chloe, and I know that the first order of business at the end of the school year is to retrieve elder daughter Sophie from Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon. There is also the matter of her stuff, which arrived there back in September courtesy of my Chrysler mini-van. However, said mini-van was procured by sister, Morissa, in late May to haul some of her stuff to Bainbridge Island, Washington. Hmmm.

Goines On: Ophthalmology appointment

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The ophthalmologist’s assistant checked Goines’ eye pressure and squeezed drops into his upturned eyes to dilate them for the retinal exam. Then she checked his meds – what he was still taking, no longer taking, taking that wasn’t listed. Goines had been diagnosed with blepharitis, and he told her he was using artificial tears more often now, not just in the morning and at night but also frequently during the day. He fingered the neck scarf he was wearing and started to say more, but stopped himself. The assistant seemed to notice, because she waited.

Fiction: Jaudon – An American Family (a novel) [2]

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Chapter 2. Louisiana

The riders following their wagon came to the dock and began firing into the sky and shouting for the boat to return to the shore. Thankfully, the boat’s captain chose to continue across the river. James asked a deck hand why the boat didn’t turn around. “You don’t turn around in the middle of the Mississippi River. If the water catches as you slow to turn, you go over and that’s all for you. Those people can wait until tomorrow morning. Or they can swim.”