a puppy waits for you at the back door of heaven

by rhoda penmarq

but they are getting away with it that doesn’t mean i have to like it especially - especially when i couldn’t walk down a street anywhere in the world and know they were laughing laughing for to beat the band it is time to take a stand the last stand with a dozen red roses nailed to the wall and a million years of flowing tears and a million dead butterflies all because of scum like them think of us, billy! i wish i could but it’s been going on too long and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and they just keep drinking martinis and laughing don’t forget, she was my girl i can’t stop thinking about it a part of me wishes i could and joey - poor fucked up joey the roses float away in the fog in the wind and the rain and the fog the fog outside the penthouse window muffling the sound of their laughter the laughter of the lowest scum that’s what i want to know

revenge falls from the sky like a million roses

by rhoda penmarq

what kind of scum did this? joey was my friend ricki was my girl it is time to take a stand but what about us, billy? we still have to live joey was the greatest friend a guy ever had for a million years he took her away from me that’’s why i have to know we can’t let then get away with it because they think they rule the world i bought her a dozen red roses because i couldn’t live with myself but that’s the kind of scum they are and have been for a million years i have to do this he was my friend how long has this been going on? do you think roses fall from the sky? “i’ll tell you what falls from the sky” no, billy, no! even though she did me wrong i couldn’t hate her forever “the clock is ticking out on the highway” because they know we are in here and they are laughing at us

the old house

by timothy t jones

back in the day every town had a road and the road ran through the town and on to the next town in the town there was always another road that ran up the hill and on the hill was a house an old house where nobody lived and nobody lived since anybody could remember sometimes the old house had a name like “the old johnson place” and sometimes it did not the windows were always broken and cats crawled around the front yard and looked at the broken windows birds flew around the windows and sometimes bats, at dusk every town had a sheriff and the sheriff would drive up the hill and look at the old house and drive back down the hill again every sheriff had a friend named mike and mike would ask the sheriff anything going on up at the old house? and the sheriff would say, nothing much and mike would say, no kids hanging out, getting into mischief? and the sheriff would say no, not any more they don’t get into mischief now they just sit home and watch tv and mike would say, that’s too bad and the sheriff would nod and they would look up at the sky the darkening sky at the clouds and the old house and the birds and the bats and the moon and the trees back in the day

So now

So now I'm like the crow.
So now i'm like timmy
timmy and the slurkett
timmy and the revenge

of rhoda's revenge.
So now I'm like Harlequin
and Jimmy Bastard
and Fern.

And now I miss them so.
So now I write another line
and wish beyond wishing
you would craft this, flashing by.

all together now

all together now

walking with a dog you are
never alone
and your eyes are always down
ticks, turds, and dangerous bones
you watch the neck and the ground
between the small stones
moves an ant, and
i adjust 40 pounds of
huge, damaged leg
to avoid
who commits more horse power?
an ant's (entire) life
(toil)
or a big animal's
avoid maneuver ;
either way
he is more efficient
i
am more accurate
we both live

2019