Matthew Chronister Dirk James Jose Trejo Maya Ann Privateer Gerard Sarnat Don Thompson
BALANCE Preparing to be discharged from the Skilled Nursing Facility, Grandpa refuses help. I hold his arm to steady him like a father holding the hand of a toddler. He swats my hands away. His shaking arms push his walker while his slippers scrape the concrete, each step long and drawn out. With every step, he sucks a large breath and pauses, resting himself on the walker, hunching over the steel bars. Finally calling for the wheelchair, he sets himself upon the seat and lets his feet drag as I push him to the car. Unable to grasp the buckle, I stretch the belt across his body and strap him in. We ride home in silence. On the sidewalk, a young father pushes a bicycle while his son pedals.
MATTHEW CHRONISTER
SHADES OF DEPARTURE Life, designed as a rose flowering layer upon layer, pedal over pedal The story of creation coming into full bloom. A blueprinted moon placed in motion over this handmade earth moving through the transparency of air. At dawn, one shadow squared across acres of light. The hum of another day buzzing out of a dark sky. A first sip of sunlight poured from music of the wind, and in that hour, the stars will melt into a great sun. I awake singing that same song. I will pack the day away like wine into a bota bag. Come and drink with me, spread the words into the vapor vanishing from sight. Everyone comes prepared, rehearsed we are all players in the Theatre Of Shadows. It is found at the foot of a frightening mountain. The Play; Reality, At The Velocity Of A Blur.
DIRK JAMES
ALMA Y OLVIDO
JOSE TREJO MAYA
An Indian saved my life. How do you pay that back? In the window sill refraction.
Un Indio me salvo la vida. Como pagas esto para atrás? En el vidrio de la ventana refracción.
It’s all played back –screen. Todo se regresa como –espejos. Here the image to pose for the fight Aquí la imagen para sobre poner la pelea. You could easily break a train of thought? Fácil puedes romper un pensamiento? But the gift outlasts: turn right. Go on 25th street make a left, on Alma –which means ____?
Pero este don sobresale: dale a la derecha. Vete sobre la calle 25 vuelta a la izquirda, en la Alma –quiere decir ____?
After the passing of All.
Despues que se van Todos.
Those dearest: the heart turns to stone.
Los más queridos: el corazon se torna de piedra.
Writing this on a piece of paper, your ethnicity’s worth a case number. Forget that [to rescind the bleeding]
Escribiendo esto en un papel, tu etnicidad vale un caso o número. Olvido [para recindir o sangras]
Hearth and home of canopy –jade green. For childhood shades perception.
Choza y casa en los cielos –verde jade. Pues en la niñez brilla la percepción.
Ain’t got nothing to lose but,
No tengo nada que perder pero,
gather was fought: eclipsed moon! What revives the frame? Unperceivable as a last breath [breaks the soul if you forget?]
obtienen lo que se pelea: eclipse de luna! Que revive a la envoltura? Imperceptible como el ultimo respiro [quiebra a el alma si olvido?]
POWER distant, distinct balled up between water and wind puddled up in cracked plates silently waiting for release fearing clouds might destroy their thunder wondering what will become of us who wait while the well runs dry as we free fall out of control bittersweet like a snow flake melting as it falls.
ANN PRIVATEER
HAVING A MEDIACENTRICITY OBIT MOMENT
GERARD SARNAT
-- RIP Antony Armstrong-Jones, who died at 86 on 13 January 2017 Sable-lined royal jelly ghetto folk morning coats rode a not so Snow White hobby horse glass coach past Sandroyd Prep, Eton then onto Jesus College, Cambridge where Princess Maggie – the black sheep of the family ‘cause of her Earl’s boozy yet magnetic wit or womanizing -hectored a next generation’s famous and rich about some dangers of mingling with hoi polloi. The hip Swinging Sixties couples’ unauthorized photo shoot concluded with their sound bite, “God’s working through us till we’re put out to pasture” to which students shot back the first three stanzas of the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen, “God save the Queen/ A fascist regime/ They made you a moron/ Potential H-bomb God save the Queen/ She ain't no human being/ There is no future/ England's dreaming Don't be told about what you want/ Don't be told about what you need/ There's no future.”
WILLOW DRIVE, BEHIND MCDONALD’S Behind me, redolent of grease, the kitchen midden we scavenge for sustenance— and survive well enough, for now. Nearby, eucalyptus trees sickened by fumes from the truck stop, so scrawny, so wasted away I expect them to start coughing. And in front of me, beyond a sign that insists this is the END, but has it all wrong— nothing for miles but open fields.
DON THOMPSON
CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES Matthew Chronister writes poetry in Sacramento, California. He graduated with honors from American River College, receiving an A.A. in English. He is currently completing his B.A. in English at California State University, Sacramento, where he also plans to pursue a Master’s degree, with the hope of teaching in the future. His work has appeared in Calaveras Station Literary Journal and 8-West Press. Dirk James has been published in many literary magazines. He lives in San Leandro, California. Jose Trejo Maya was born in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico, where he spent his childhood in the small neighboring rural pueblo of Tarimoró and wherefrom he immigrated in 1988. In writing in particular his inspirations include the ancient poet Netzahualcoyotl, contemporary Humberto Ak’abal, Ray A. Young Bear and the Gros Ventre/Blackfeet novelist James Welch. His work has been published in the Nimrod International Poetry Journal, Belleville Park Pages, Star 82 Review, Visions International Review, Lost Coast Review, Redactions: Poetry & Poetics, Altadena Poetry Review (2015 & 2016), Acentos Review, Mandala Journal, Five Quarterly, Qua Quarterly, The Voices Project, Turtle Island Quarterly, Taj Mahal Review, Constellations, Dukool, Solstice Literary Magazine, In Stereo Press, Stone Bird Anthology of the Eagle Rock Library, nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2015, Sentir Latino transformado en mujer 2016, by Identidad Latina based in Barcelona, Spain; UCLA American Indian Culture & Research Journal. Tercer Premio por tres poemas de la obra “La Muerte Tira” de El Centro Canario Estudios Caribeños – El Atlántico – en el Certamen Internacional de Poesía “La calle que tú me das” 2016. Ann Privateer's journey was from Cleveland to los Angeles to Davis writing poetry along the way. She recently learned to write poetry on her cell phone. It's the modern way! Her poems have appeared in Manzanita, 100 Sacramento Poets, and the News and Review to name a few. Gerard Sarnat’s been nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize. He’s authored four collections: HOMELESS CHRONICLES (2010), Disputes (2012), 17s (2014) and Melting The Ice King (2016) which included work published in Gargoyle, Lowestoft, American Journal of Poetry plus was featured in Songs of Eretz, Avocet, LEVELER, tNY, StepAway, Bywords, Floor Plan. Dark Run, Scarlet Leaf, Good Men Project and Anti-Heroin Chic feature sets of new poems. Mount Analogue selected KADDISH FOR THE COUNTRY for distribution as a pamphlet on Inauguration Day 2017 and as part of the Washington/nationwide Women’s Marches. For Huffington Post/other reviews, readings, publications, interviews; visit GerardSarnat.com. Harvard/Stanford educated, Gerry’s worked in jails, built/staffed clinics for the marginalized, been a CEO of healthcare organizations and Stanford Medical School professor. Married since 1969, he has three children, four grandkids. Don Thompson was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, and has lived in the southern San Joaquin Valley for most of his life. Currently the poet laureate of Kern county, he has been publishing poetry since the early sixties, including a dozen books and chapbooks. For more information and links to his publications, visit his website San Joaquin Ink at www.don-e-thompson.com