Poetry
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“San Francisco” by Orlando N. Bonilla
San Francisco by Orlando N. Bonilla A golden coin Is hanging from your roof. Rolling automobiles Scratch the air of your belly, While the tip-toeing buildings Gaze toward the sky, And two long fingers Stretch across the bay. Flames of people emerge From the semaphores, Biting the ground With each step. At night, Your neon…
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“are bones and red blood, dressed in flesh, to hold a soul.” (Janis Krug)
Under All the Layers by Janis Krug A city’s finest peacocks flocked and strutted, dressed to celebrate the opening of the opera, but perhaps this rosy, roughed extravaganza was the opening of a vague Pandora’s box. All were scintillating with complacent smiles, the ladies ruffled, most in black or white silk satin, and festooned with…
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“I was left alone as it had to be” (Kevin Reilly)
Birth by Kevin Reilly When I finally got tired of being tired And of that too I gathered together my courage And while walking with a wise man his wisdom grew Together we walked as far as he and his understanding Could go I was left alone as it had to be My heart pounded…
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“A Day in the Life of City College” by Elizabeth Mims
A Day in the Life of City College by Elizabeth Mims my debut begins at noon I lock the locks check the mail survive the hardhats wave to George’s Market buy my cheese at the health food store make the island just in time to miss the K pay my dues to the muni join…
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“Production to profit is his scheme / Both part of the American Dream” (Frank Viollis)
Be Home at Five by Frank Viollis Now take the man on Montgomery Street Here’s a fellow with swift moving feet Where he’s going I can’t say I wonder if he knows his way Production to profit is his scheme Both part of the American Dream Fifteen minutes is all he takes Time enough for…
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“lips’lust / devours the entire sex- / less shape extreme” (Lorraine M. Tong)
by Lorraine M. Tong letting my hair down a banana unreels it self exposes the raw inner meet the sensitivity headskin cascading hair down slippery shoulder mountains shreds of veins long entangled with the direction of down the shapeless vertical form that cannot stand but to lie there the curves become evident soft pregnant sweetness…
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“I can see there is no god in this country and no god” (J. Baker)
Poem by J. Baker At five o’ clock, with August faintly weeping at the news, we hit the dead end rump of Texas and take the border town in one smooth grab. The light is fairly even, inside and outside. I can see there is no god in this country and no god in the…
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“a visage of true nobility / arose from the slime.” (Frank J. Serpa)
Man by Frank J. Serpa Once in a vague passage a visage of true nobility arose from the slime. It grew and expanded. It flourished and was the master of its destiny. It decayed and destroyed itself. “Man,” by Frank J. Serpa originally published in Forum (1961, City College of San Francisco).
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“and in memory men continue to live, …” (James L. Kramer)
Ad Infinitum by James L. Kramer Thoughts lead into thoughts and those in turn to others as if the imagination revolves with ideas, each waiting to appear. Existence, a constant repetition, continues as idle thoughts and dreams: the significance of what was dreamt a yesterday has been forgotten and what dreams fill tonight will be…
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“Nothing seems worth believing now, All beautiful thoughts, I ignore.” (Sandra Verdi)
by Sandra Verdi Values seem lost in this haphazard world, Righteousness seems not sincere; The eyes of the guilty lurk all about, Life’s purpose does not render clear. My world is colliding with rapid speed, With all that I cherished before; Nothing seems worth believing now, All beautiful thoughts, I ignore. For they are not…
Forum Literary Magazine 