One Poem by Donovan Reyes

spooky

lit up like a Christmas tree two sky-
scraping sticks burning wraith-white, star-
spangled pale within coalseared woods;
this immolated ghost winks at me, furiously. 

Four Poems by Mark Young

Olbers & the Okapi

 

The okapi survives

through excellent

camouflage. That

& the fact it is the

 

only antelope who

has ever puzzled

over Heinrich Ol-

bers's paradox —

 

if the universe is

infinite & full of

stars, why is the

sky dark at night?

 

 

A / newt's first / law of motion

 

The problem

with being

amphibious

is I can never

remember

whether it’s

the coach

driver or

the dive

coach that’s

supposed

to be looking

after me. 

 

 

Ambit ions

 

Using a

locator

spell, I

track down

my absent

imagination

 

& find it is

currently

a charged

particle

in the queue

waiting to

 

audition

for Ameri-

can Idol.

 

 

Open Letter Operetta

(A Tom Beckett Title)

Librettist:

You don't need a
letter opener to
open a letter when
it's an open letter.

Director:

That's great! Now if we repeat that a number of times then that's the operetta half-written already. What characters did you have in mind?

Librettist:

Was thinking of a cheated-on partner as lead, a mezzo-soprano, a bit of a Taylor Swift voice. Other characters would include the non-singing postal worker who brought a letter from the partner in which they admit their cheating & end with an unapologetic goodbye. The contents of the letter could be sung by the departing partner from a position near the back of the stage.

To go with that, perhaps partly performed as a contrapuntal overlap with the preceding:

Today the post-
woman brought
me a letter from my
ex-partner. I will

not open it be-
cause I am al-
ready aware of
what it will say.

To follow on, we have a scene where the spurned spouse sings or speaks their response as they post it to Facebook or another platform since something that appears on social media can be framed as an open letter for contemporary times.

We must, however, in order to adhere to the spirit of an operetta, retain some comedic aspects even though this is essentially a sad piece. Perhaps introduce a chorus who individually comment on the response, &, collectively, interrupt with a repetitive response such as "letter opener, open letter" or "never getting back together again."

Two Poems by Tim Frank

Fighting the Flat

It’s a vague summer’s night

In this damp concrete cage

Where the light creeps and crawls

Like an undulating beast.

My wife drinks Prosecco

From a battered Stanley cup

Curled up by the wall,

Always by a wall.

There’s a vivid TV set,

Jousting with the moon,

Poking at my bones.

I smoke Superkings—fistfuls,

Glowing in the gloom

And I formulate a plan

To set the flat on fire,

Then dream of outer-space.

Diplomacy

 

I’m a diplomat for eastern moods

And long-distance calls.

I barter with the tourists

In airports

Overdubbed with German

Laughing through the fog.

Come to me and groan,

Roast your native flags,

Then sink into a bath.

Listen to the waves

In high rise ghetto blocks

And slip your headphones on.

That’s the sound of freedom flashing

In coded rhythmic claps—

Just don’t forget my name.

Take this situation:

Stuck in blistered traffic

Everybody spits

In fake contagious comas.

I seize a peace agreement

From the fists of certain doom.

I’m a genuine pro-wrestler

An actor on the stage,

Give me all your money,

I won’t forget your name.