me

by ricky joe sternwall

i don’t mean to whine i just want what’s mine i want my fellow humans to realize that i am one of those special guys i am not like those other folks those losers, wasters, mopes, and mokes those fish in a barrel waiting to get shot i am not like them - honest i’m not i’m the one who knows the score the one you have all been waiting for if i could just catch a break the world i would remake it is really elemental if i could just reach my potential if i could just be wild and free the world would revolve around me the way it was meant to be why can’t you all see? stop saying no to me and say yes and recognize my uniqueness i’m the one who was prophesied through the universe to glide wiping out the whole world’s frown if you would only stop bringing me down

in a churchyard

by horace p sternwall

on a dreary rainy eve a hand plucked at my sleeve i turned to see a pallid sprite flickering in the fading light and though i made protest it put me to the test and as the rain did drip it did not relax its grip and down a muddy lane like a runaway train he proceeded to tell a tale old and sad as a rusty nail he was a sad and lonely cuss of whom the world made little fuss the desires with which he was torn met with society's scorn he became an incubus possessed with sodden lusts vainly seeking peace at last in the worlds through which he passed the particulars of his tale sought my pity, to no avail perhaps we all have stories but their resonance and glories are best left to our own selves everyone else leaves on the shelves the narratives of others so let me go, brother let us each go our own way perhaps on judgment day we may our acquaintance renew until then - adieu so i reasoned with the shade who, in fact, began to fade with a look in his pale eyes more of sadness than surprise i looked around the gloom at the wet grass and the tombs the faded words scribed on the stones again - happily - alone