Saturday, May 23, 2020

A New Something. By John Drudge



All of the angels
Have broken wings
In this new something
Happening
This New Testament 
Of torture
With the creatures 
That crawl out 
From under the night
And the bleak things
That become everything
As the distance 
Between us  
Diminishes
Among the roots
Of fallen trees
And we dig the arid dirt
That’s left to us





John works as a clinical social worker and is the president of a national disability management company. He holds degrees in Social Work, Psychology, and Rehabilitation Services and has studied philosophy extensively.  He is an avid traveler and a long-term student of the martial arts holding a 3rd degree black-belt in Kempo Karate. His diverse educational and experiential background gives him a broad base from which to approach many topics in his poetry. John currently lives with his wife and two children in Caledon, Ontario, Canada. 

Monday, May 4, 2020

Drunken Note #2. By Mendes Biondo


the hangover day is a moment of our life
set out of time and place
everything you do is slowed down
even your neighbor looks funnier

hangover day it's all about surviving cruelty
of everyday life
without using your mask that is swinging 
from the wire where you generally hang the pants

I saw the picture of a wide ass woman
during my last hangover day
and it rested in my mind till the end of the day

could you imagine it?
a wonderfully shaped
wide and fresh
light pink quite ivory
chubby ass
of an alt model
looking for a photographer
or a job

sometimes happiness is a bunch of pixels
and a good bottle of booze






Mendes Biondo is a Blues poet.
His works are widely published on magazines and anthologies from all over the world. He is one of the editors of The Ramingo's Porch and PpigpenN. He is the author of "Spaghetti & Meatballs - Poems for Hot Organs" (Pski's Porch Publishing), “Where Hot Rod Rides” (Cajun Mutt Press), the limited edition chapbook “Young, Cruel and Angry Was The Night” (Holy & Intoxicated Press) and “River House Blues” (Horror Sleaze Trash).

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Mod Sunglasses i.m. Michael Murray. By John Doyle


 Like Italians wore
zooming round Naples on scooters - 
in 1959;
Infinity's the star
of two-tone Fellini movies, 
jazz music, slim smiling 20 year olds. 
Mod sunglasses like Michael wore    
as I met him on my rounds, 
his eyesight fading, 
horse-racing on tv.    
I greet him, for the final time.  
Heart attack, suddenly, 

the matron tells me the following Friday




John Doyle became a Mod again in the summer of 2017 to fight off his impending mid-life crisis; whether this has been a success remains to be seen. He has has two collections published to date, A Stirring at Dusk in 2017, and Songs for Boys Called Wendell Gomez in 2018, both on PSKI's Porch. 


He is based in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. All he asks is that you leave your guns at the door and tie up your horses before your enter.

Friday, May 1, 2020

Bonfire by Susan Tepper


For reasons vast 
and numerous
may I call you god?
Using the lower case?
I do know my place.
I’ve split from the living—
too much pointless 
swag and conversation—
Sticks in the yard
offer more in the way
of heft and texture.
Feel good in my hands.
Kneeling I gather them 
stacked with their own kind: 
Saplings and desiccated
barks entwine.  A big bonfire.  
Then you may deliver me.



Susan Tepper is the author of eight published books of fiction and poetry. Her most recent book just out in June is a road novel titled “What Drives Men.” It was shortlisted at American Book Fest Best Book Awards. Other honors and awards include eighteen Pushcart Nominations, a Pulitzer Prize Nomination for the novel “What May Have Been” (Cervena Barva Press, and currently being adapted for the stage), NPR’s Selected Shorts Series, Second Place Winner in Story/South Million Writers Award, Best Story of 17 Years of Vestal Review, Shortlisted 7th in the Zoetrope Novel Contest (2003), Best of the Net and more. Tepper is a native New Yorker.