Ivy League Roommates II
Euripides and Wigberthad Hedge Fund fatherswho taught them the artof insider trading.They became friendswith Pedro, a scholarshipstudent from Medellin,who...
Light Language Inscription
Indelible mark of the light,the language inscribed in indigo inkdeep into the chest,etching it ineffably, itscurving codes and frequencieshere now, in the...
Love in Four Parts
Eons ago one bright young daya cupid child looked down.He fired to earth two tiny dartsand flew about his way.A boy and girl sat far apart,been passing time...
Issue 7: Summer 2020
First off, I want to send out a giant cosmic hug from the staff at eMerge! We have received so many elegant and moving submissions for the Summer Edition...
Late Season
Inches from meyou may not know the wantingof my hand, illegible on your heaving back,touching you as you sleep, or pretend to.(Your days are long and pile...
sun on the outside
The sun's yellow scratched the cobalt blue of the skyas one impassioned burst moved it far outside the lineSo flustrated pigeon toes pecked at the linoleum's...
What Are Tears
What are tears but intimations?Gems are formed against the grain,Beauty born of desolation,The soul's response to a heart's repression,Lustrous pearl round...
Remain in Mexico
there is the Rio Bravo, a green viperyou could ride away from the tent citybut for remembering Oscar’s failed swimbaby girl tucked in his shirt,...
Beautiful Moon
Her waist-length hair waswrapped and entangledaround a post and upinto the barbed wireSnow drifts had blown uparound her narrow waistThe guy who found her...
TEARS OF QUẢNG TRỊ
After the last American soldiershad left Vietnamand grass had grownscars onto bomb craters,I took some foreign friends to Quảng Trị,once a fierce...
Papa’s Handwriting
Your handwriting dancedlike a tipsy hieroglyph.Birthday cards, signed books, paperworkdecorated by impatient smudges.Mama is our only Rosetta Stone.Like all...
Invisible Wounds
His mind keeps pulling him backTo memories of his worst combat experiencesA severed armLimbs that were once oneLoved by someone…He wants to be left aloneTo...
Six Poems
Poem with Political LeaningsThings could have gone differently for the left, for the right, forall of us humping our implausible lives into an ideal future,...
The Gigolo
I once shared an office with a gigolo. We were paralegals at a white shoe law firm in midtown Manhattan. His name was Gil and he was on leave from Columbia...
A Belfast Legend
Growing up in Belfast during the Troubles had its ups and downs. There were times when the roads or schools were closed because of bomb scares or when you...
The Silver Lining
maybeyou shouldn’thave left collegemarried that manhad that man’s kidsditched that man’s kidsmaybeyou shouldn’thave drunk that beersmoked that...
Writing
Moments press against uncounted momentsSwiftly they passInto an unrecoverable abyssI ponder in silenceAbsorbed by a world of unwritten wordsVerbs, nouns,...
Memories of a Cajun Night
The Cajun orchestra, skeining out wild music through the open doors and windows of the dance hall, greeted Loreen and I as we walked through the oak-scented...
The Coin-Op Church
Off the main highway, down meandering gravel, a road of hairpin turns, no guardrails. At the end, a shady lane, where lies the coin-op church, open 24 hours...
Mountainburg 12-27-17
Not a thing lies hiddenbehind the bare branch –the days before emergent buds.Sycamores silver and whitegolden autumn cast to the ground.White limbs reaching...