The factions failed to
realize their vast divides
as they shared borders.

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Lost on an island,
the palms sway softly above …
till the alarm calls.

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“What makes you tick?” she
asked. “Cynicism,” he said.
“My bread and butter.”

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A light dusting of
flour coated the counter
top, the baker, too.

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The right fielder went
home, the shortstop dropped back, and
the coach prayed for rain.

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The capitalists
shuffled their feet, unable
to stay with the beat.

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She followed closely
behind on the wooded trail,
seeking only peace.

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One last jump in the
pond, one last afternoon storm,
one last ice cream cone.

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All the world’s knowledge
came in a small, battery-
powered wizard’s box.

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He would visit the
crumbling well often, hoping
to refresh his joy.

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The busy bee flew
to her appointments, leaving
a pollen of smiles.

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The weighing of life’s
petty injustices pales
next to real trauma.

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1. the eggs-ecutioner
   One yolk screams in pain,
   while the other lies stunned in
   silence. Fried to death.
2. eyes of the storm
   Cameras caught the herds
   of twisters stampeding through
   the defenseless towns.
3. like so many matchsticks
   House after house, a
   school here, a church there, toppled,
   tossed, decimated.
4. the cruellest month
   Goodbye, April. You
   were needlessly heartless and
   ripped the earth apart.
5. the thin multihued line
   They came with shovels
   and water, prepared for the
   worst and found horror.
6. they got him
   Navy Seals take out
   Public Enemy No.
   1. Justice at last.
7. where the streets have no names
   The teen worker stoops
   to spray-paint the asphalt with
   the name of the road.
8. walk on
   Can’t say where it is,
   but I know I’m going home.
   That’s where the hurt is.
9. what lies beneath
   Among the rubble
   lies broken china, ruined
   clothes, maybe some hope.
10. on guard from the looters
    The men with guns keep
    watch from looters, yet all that’s
    left are bricks and boards.
11. setec astronomy
    The surprise became
    anticlimactic when the
    big secret wasn’t.
12. you are my sunshine
    She passes me notes
    throughout the day that light up
    my darkest hours.
13. how to bag in paper
    Heavy at bottom,
    cold with cold, squishy at top.
    Not really that hard.
14. march of the mortarboards
    Come forward and get
    your piece of paper. It’s a
    ticket to somewhere.
15. gotta get down on friday
    What happens when pop
    culture collides with online
    notoriety?
16. the shortest spring
    For a week or so,
    the outdoors were a delight …
    till summer heat hit.
17. no hazing
    The jazz club had a
    hot band, whiskey shots and no
    smoking permitted.
18. the out-of-towners
    In the car they hopped,
    carefree adventures ahead
    on the highway out.
19. a toddler’s worship
    The little boy in
    the jumpsuit ran among the
    pews in search of God.
20. to prowl the jungle
    The little creature
    dreamt of hunts in the wild and
    running free, bounding.
21. the recipe that takes the longest
    Three ounces of a
    missing ingredient means
    one more shopping trip.
22. doomsday never happens on a weekend
    God would put doomsday
    on a Monday so He could
    see who went to church.
23. written in the wind
    Lovely words have no
    place in a visual, non-
    stop society.
24. bright city
    The glare overtakes
    the view, pierced by the solar
    flashes from afar.
25. the tough road
    Easier to tear
    something down than build something
    up. Be a builder.
26. x-ray vision
    Knowing people so
    well prevents mishaps, even as
    others are lured in.
27. heat spell
    Sizzle, sizzle, burn
    and fizzle. Need a drink to
    mix with a swizzle.
28. wikileaks 2021
    Pics of everyone’s
    genitals, old cell numbers
    and who we slept with.
29. the methodology of caring
    Form a committee,
    then another, make a chart …
    Or help as needed.
30. mindset
    The body is slumped
    in the cubicle chair; the
    mind lies on the beach.
31. the lighter load
    The load in life seems
    pretty heavy, till you see
    someone being crushed.
32. spokes people
    Armies on cycles
    hug the turns and revel in
    open-air freedom.
33. words with friends
    The coven shared its
    secrets, whispers of truth that
    were concealed as dirt.
34. some sacrifice
    It’s easy to show
    support of troops who have passed.
    Support the living.
35. color me bad
    Being saintly does
    not fit; neither does being
    evil. Good and bad?
36. states of being
    Schrödinger’s cat slept
    and yet did not sleep in the
    afternoon sunbeam.
37. 3-digit days
    Hot isn’t the same
    as Alabama hot, which
    demands AC, tea.
38. trimmed to the dirt
    They hacked at the land
    till all that was left were spots
    of light green and brown.
39. love takes courage
    If hate takes fear and
    magnifies it, love takes cour-
    age and rewards it.
40. sermon on the hillside
    Father Donovan
    blessed the sacrament, and the
    choir rose to sing.
41. empty rooms
    No one has lived in
    the stately cottage for months
    as the weeds grow round.
42. the respectable
    The respectable
    never sully themselves with
    the commoners much.
43. school lunch 3.0
    No more tater tots
    or chocolate milk, just healthy
    food no child will touch.
44. a gamble with the law
    Politicians and
    gangsters huddle to try to
    beat the legal house.
45. trust issues
    Trust isn’t given,
    it’s earned. Or is it other
    way around? Faith … fate?
46. fountains of youth
    A mad dash through the
    sprinkler, and then another.
    Giggles rain like drops.
47. comfort breeds forgetfulness
    The plight of the storm-
    tossed is lost amid keeping
    track of mundane tasks.
48. games of chance
    Bingo, poker, craps,
    roulette, slot machines, blackjack
    and state politics.
49. 511 days till election day
    The debates have kicked
    off. Why should they wait till last
    minute to sling mud?
50. till you’re safe and sound
    Could you not be sad?
    Could you not break down? After
    all, I won’t let go …
51. the forecast of doom
    Snowstorms and ice, hail
    and tornadoes, three-digit
    temps. Two seasons in.
52. it’s good to be queen
    Gazing upon her
    subjects, she could not help but
    feel pity, contempt.
53. texts from last week
    “Going 2 teh store.”
    “Will U get me some cookees?”
    “I M not yr slave!”
54. spaceship mirth
    Golf ball of giants.
    Is it below par? No way.
    The club must be huge.
55. drippy days
    The ice cream started
    running through the cone’s tip way
    before the first lick.
56. all summer in a day
    Margot spends hours
    trapped in Venusian closet.
    Ultimate sunscreen.
57. dark as a rule
    Navigation would
    be impossible save for
    headlights in blackout.
58. the march of digital progress
    Ancient browser wrecks
    coded work of art. Time to
    upgrade, damn Luddite.
59. elevated tweetup
    The birds perched on the
    power line, gossiping on
    the juiciest flaps.
60. mother nature has the power
    Power blinks out once
    more. No TV, no laptop.
    And there goes the milk.
61. the unwelcome stranger
    Immigrants welcome,
    as long as they smell OK,
    work hard, have papers.
62. approach at 0 feet altitude
    Cars stuck in holding
    pattern circling for pick-ups
    of worn passengers.
63. the untended yard
    The most noxious weed
    wasn’t in the ground, but out
    spreading seed elsewhere.
64. snack attack
    The tiny candy
    bar pacified the tummy.
    Until the second.
65. halftime 2011
    Break out the bands and
    the cheerleaders. We’re down by
    a lot, but not out.
66. the watermelon patch
    It comes in red and
    green and cures the craving for
    spitting seeds around.
67. the past in pixels
    The one gallery
    brought back moments from childhood,
    both joy and sorrow.
68. a weird distance
    Seeing people you
    thought you knew well puts a weird
    distance between you.
69. the freedom to
    Speak, move, assemble,
    disagree, vote, worship, bear
    arms, have a free press.
70. summer harvest
    Into the basket
    leapt the tomatoes off the
    vines, the corn from stalks.
71. the lightweight
    It took one beer to
    do him in. One more sip and
    he would’ve passed out.
72. faux foe
    Not the virtual
    enemy that has all the
    luck, but your own fears.
73. the house of no repute
    The foreclosed abode
    waits to be adopted as
    the weeds take over.
74. cheap lunch date
    They shared a tuna
    sandwich, apple slices and
    an entire park.
75. desert without sand
    The hills shimmered in
    the blistering sun. Green turned
    to waterless brown.
76. pack of pugs
    They patrol the rooms
    together, snorting, sniffing,
    waiting for scratches.
77. trees skinned alive
    Above the blue tarps
    are the missing treetops, shorn
    clean by tornadoes.
78. barstool brigade
    The old timers sat
    and drank their cheap beer, whiling
    away their problems.
79. the twist
    The twist turned out to
    be that everyone lived quite
    normally henceforth.
80. trappings and such
    Mere trappings do not
    make the man, but only serve
    to ensnarl his soul.
81. coming attractions
    The lights went down, the
    previews began, the viewers
    hushed, the magic flowed.
82. over the hills and through the woods
    We wandered through the
    forest like lost children who
    never want to leave.
83. doorstep to doorstep
    The tiny package
    moved through the pipes on its way
    to obsolescence.
84. her name is mud
    The babbling brook calls
    to her as it digs into
    the dirt and the dust.
85. only so much hustle
    Go! go! go! until
    the couch beckons, lulling you
    into deep slumber.
86. listmania!
    Too many to-dos
    pull brain like taffy, stretched thin
    and icky sticky.
87. a new horizon
    The ship sailed on, blind
    to the typhoons and monsters
    that lie in her path.
88. sunflower sunrise
    Flowers brightened the
    morning at the market like
    a bouquet of rays.
89. hearth strings
    The melodies of
    a violin filled the house
    and it felt like home.
90. subtext is everything
    Gentle questions hide
    another agenda from
    those innocent ears.
91. a distant boom
    Summer thunderstorm
    rolls by with great acclaim, leaves
    trail of low echoes.
92. the soul of a soul singer
    She couldn’t escape
    the pain of living, yet her
    smoky voice lives on.
93. the dare
    When a coward asks
    you to call him a coward
    to his face, do it.
94. box lunch, lunch box
    The bento had not
    been to Japan, but carried
    a taste from far off.
95. and they still bring the mail to you
    Bills and flyers, cards
    and offers and misaddressed
    junk cram the box full.
96. almost all natural
    Her diet involved
    fruit, vegetables and water,
    with a few milkshakes.
97. subtle interrogation
    The unwitting soul
    knew nothing of subtext while
    answering the text.
98. the years, they go by so quickly
    The candles pile up
    atop the cake, the regrets
    flow like unchecked tears.
99. factions
    The gangs eyed each group,
    wary of agendas and
    motives not their own.
100. cozy sheets
     Bed calls out, don’t leave,
     in a sultry soothing tone,
     but work screams louder.
101. withered fortunes
     Myrna watched her life
     savings evaporate in
     the wink of a lie.

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Bed calls out, don’t leave,
in a sultry soothing tone,
but work screams louder.

• • •

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The gangs eyed each group,
wary of agendas and
motives not their own.

• • •

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