amphibi.us » Poetry http://amphibi.us Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:08:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Fishing For Echos In The Floor http://amphibi.us/all/fishing-for-echos-in-the-floor/ http://amphibi.us/all/fishing-for-echos-in-the-floor/#comments Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:04:28 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3155 It’s either you or the ghost
I check behind the curtain
I check the lock on the door
It’s either you or the ghost
You or the ghost

A quick look down a hole
Wheel me to a quick fix
Wheel me to the finish
A quick look down a hole
Down a hole

Strap me to the elevator
Stand me up
Stand me on my feet
Strap me to the elevator
The elevator

Tears slide out of my skin
Afraid to be alone
Afraid to be in front
Tears slide out of my skin
Out of my skin

I stand by the way you died
Could’ve been quicker
Could’ve been slower
But I stand by the way you died
I stand


© Chad Ewers, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/fishing-for-echos-in-the-floor/feed/ 1 Red http://amphibi.us/all/red/ http://amphibi.us/all/red/#comments Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:48:14 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3135 we talked last night,
she and I.
Well, I talked,
she listened.
Well, I talked,
she stood there.
I spoke and knew she saw me,
but did not speak to her.

I spoke to her last night,
years ago-
when we were both in the same room,
and she told me how happy she was-
proud she was
of me.

We spoke yesterday evening,
years ago-
when I had moved on
and she had stayed where she was for now-
but was almost ready,
almost ready to go someplace warmer.

We spoke yesterday afternoon,
years ago-
when her hair was strawberry blond
from the Florida sun
and she told me how happy she was
for herself.

I spoke last night,
last night-
when she was away from me-
away from all of us.
And I knew how happy she was
that we knew she saw us.


© Patti Azzara, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/red/feed/ 2 Cocktail Hour http://amphibi.us/all/cocktail-hour/ http://amphibi.us/all/cocktail-hour/#comments Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:17:12 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/all/cocktail-hour/ Mrs. Bland! How lovely to see you! 

                                        Oh god, her.
What a charming outfit.
                                        That dress makes her look huge!
                                        What was she thinking?
It’s been quite a while-
how are the kids?
                                        Pretentious, spoiled brats.
And Joe? 
                                        He didn’t deserve that promotion.
                                        Look at her gloat.
I hear you are involved
in a new charity?
                                        Not another one. Another
                                        new crack. Really, what next?

It’s been great catching up! You know,
we should do lunch sometime.
                                 
                                          Gag me, if you ever call I promise
                                          I will vomit.
Alright, well, goodbye!
                                          And good riddance. I really just
                                          cannot stand that woman.

Oh, Mrs. Pale, fancy meeting you here!
How lovely to see you.

 

© Shelly Holder, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/cocktail-hour/feed/ 2 Staten Island http://amphibi.us/all/staten-island/ http://amphibi.us/all/staten-island/#comments Sat, 27 Nov 2010 19:45:30 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3128 Women in bars playing bingo
and the landscape is a needle pointing north.
Grow apart from falls, ropes attached to jokers.
Many children run free round banks.
Needles sharp, straight in the right direction.
Clouds were made out of factories to waste lands,
seamen from Ohorsk. You could feel the water
and the animals from the depths pierced
in necklaces for Bell Isle.
Passengers silent yet on the ferry,
sharply through the air.
Faithful companions on their knees,
like intolerable shirts of flame.
Not every step is cracked with gaps
that drag you down.
You turn the compass, to the mouth of guided gears.
The end of our trip

will be the recognition of our home for the first time.

© Andrej Grilc, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/staten-island/feed/ 2 Schizolectic http://amphibi.us/all/schizolectic/ http://amphibi.us/all/schizolectic/#comments Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:45:54 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3123 I’m the kind of artist
That howls and curses women’s names
In the middle of the night
Runs around naked
And throws spaghetti on the walls
Between shots of vodka and rum
Pounding fists and overturning tables
I blast porn and Beethoven
Jerk off into the sink
Claiming the mosquitoes are CIA robots
Have come to inject poison in my veins
It is through this madness and filth
That the vision takes a hold
It is only in this state
That one may gaze upon the face of God
While copulating with the Devil
This is my art
Dialectic and eternal
The supernova clash of worlds
The battle of flesh and spirit
And I, the artist, am in the middle
Bottle of rum in hand
And boiling more water for spaghetti


© Marcin J. Kuhn 2010
[others]
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/schizolectic/feed/ 3 Maid Service http://amphibi.us/all/maid-service/ http://amphibi.us/all/maid-service/#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:11:49 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3120 Stop doing it all wrong,
her boss tells Jess, angry
about her polishing skills.  He
sees the hotel as a ship,
himself as admiral.  She considers

taking the spray, aiming
for his eyes.  At lunch
maids gab about sex.  Ali blurts,
Why don’t you have kids?
Jess, 21, says she wants to be

a therapist.  Talk turns
to unmade beds.  $7.50 an hour.
Roachy guests.  A rare tip.
Jess would abandon ship,
but she can’t afford a car,

depends on the bus.  All wrong,
she dreams of him, the menacing
voice.  In the morning,
she puts on scrubs, waits for
room assignments.


© Kenneth Pobo, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/maid-service/feed/ 1 112 http://amphibi.us/all/112/ http://amphibi.us/all/112/#comments Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:01:11 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3117 Like anyone else,
you wake up and go to work.
You laugh when things aren’t funny.
You drink because it helps you relax.
You talk to me because you think
I’m listening.


© Corisa Moreno, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/112/feed/ 1 Growing Up In the 70s http://amphibi.us/all/growing-up-in-the-70s/ http://amphibi.us/all/growing-up-in-the-70s/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:27:06 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3113 my parents were russian spies and
I was sent to them by
means too complicated to explain in
the short time that I have
in order to infiltrate their home and
hopefully
eventually
foil their evil plans
but I could never tell anybody this
because I never knew who I could trust
sitting in my room
with the door locked
writing my secrets in languages
only I could understand
sneaking to the pay phone on the corner
across from the post office
trying to make contact with my superiors
stepping inside the booth and
slowly pulling shut the door
before picking up the receiver and
dialing the code which had been
implanted in my head years before
waiting
but never getting an answer
often going there
after some heated argument
all the time looking out for
strangers lurking in the shadows
convinced my parents had
countless people on their side
but I never completed my mission
suddenly I woke up and
I was too old
I ran to the corner but
the pay phone was gone


© James Babbs, 2010
[others]
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/growing-up-in-the-70s/feed/ 4 A Letter to the Chemist Who Invented Sodium Additives http://amphibi.us/all/a-letter-to-the-chemist-who-invented-sodium-additives/ http://amphibi.us/all/a-letter-to-the-chemist-who-invented-sodium-additives/#comments Sat, 20 Nov 2010 19:10:13 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3106 Six nights of beef ramen is equal to four thousand seven hundred forty milligrams of sodium additives.

A mountain of sodium in my arteries.

Winter nights. A hot soup for my stomach. It is not as romantic as burning Vanilla flavored tea lights and imagining I am dining with Megan Fox in the bathtub but I never felt like this since my best friend Mark touches my cum on the back of Mary Joe’s ear. It is exhilarating.

The betrayal is.

I first fact-check the label that beef ramen has the lowest sodium content among instant noodles, I believe. I am cheap to believe.

To think that I can get away with an embolus because I am eating a poor man’s meal does not make me austere.

It is addicting and moderation is a foreign ingredient.

Did you also know that I sometimes pass myself as a student (they never card me) so I can get in with a museum discount?

Is it like that with lying?

To sell yourself short so you will gratify the sparing animal inside you.

Please advise.

About to combust,
Jay


© Jay Coral, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/a-letter-to-the-chemist-who-invented-sodium-additives/feed/ 1 The Dog & Man genre http://amphibi.us/all/the-dog-man-genre/ http://amphibi.us/all/the-dog-man-genre/#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:02:54 +0000 Shannon Peil http://amphibi.us/?p=3100 When a man is aroused by a picture
of a beautiful woman, he sees flesh
where there is actually ink.

He then looks to the sky
without adjusting his eyes
and sees silhouettes of men
where only the moon hangs.

His dog observes too
and finds his master to be funny
and while he howls,

the man unfolds a list
heavy with names and recites
them to give credit
where credit is due.

This takes the whole night.

Meanwhile,
the dog has moved onto
newer discoveries, sniffing a tree
and thinking of it
as he remembers the moon.


© Peter Macaluso, 2010
]]> http://amphibi.us/all/the-dog-man-genre/feed/ 4