by Li

InsideLaughingOut - by Li

Standing outside the shop,
reality and reflection fuse.

If I stare long enough
I don't know
which is inside,
which is out.


The lady is like me.

I am not a reflection
but acting
in a glass box,
the world pasting itself on me.


And do I keep on laughing?

I do.

by Janet

The Huddle - by Janet

Here it is, folks,
the Big Game!

Fans huddled in their TV room
chowing tacos
watching
players huddled in their shoulder pads
who are doing all the
exercise.

And look out the window!
We've got
Southern California, here!

Sunny
breezy
seventy-five degreezy
and
no referee!

Enjoy your from-the-can queso dip.

I've touched down
on the beach.

by Josefine

Buddha and Mary - by Josefine


How far I have come,
thinks Buddha,
from
one without excess
to
this bulging largess,
a slick trinket sold for paperfied gold.

How far I have come,
thinks Mary,
from
one humble virgin
to
this other version,
promoting my grace with a furry blue face.


There they are.

Standing together.

Glistening belly
and
solemn soft fuzz.

Neither quite ready
for the is
from the was.

by Daco

Celebrat'n da New Year - by Daco

Dat's what ahm talkin bout.

Red slop
cat-sup
dat Toe-maaay-toe jazz.

All shiny
in a bitty paper cuppa thing,
ready for it
ready for it
but naw
you gotta waaaaait
cause da burger ain't up yet.

And da burger's job,
see,
is to
transport
d'important
stuff.

Red slop.

Sometimes at home,
right outta bottle,
open wide.

Where's dat burger?

Slop me.

by Kevin

GHOULS - by Kevin

Jenner's house.

Pretty impressive,
tp'ing a tree that size.

Thing is,
Jenner's sister Lacey
said she saw
me and Copeland
do it
and told her parents.

But it isn't true.

Or,
I didn't do it,
but Copeland was bragging
all over school
that he did.

My name got
added in to the story somehow
but I don't know why

and I can't prove I wasn't
where I really was
at midnight last night

which was
in my room
reading an old MT Anderson novel
by my camping headlamp.

Now I have to apologize
to Jenner's family
and help Copeland
take all that shit down from that huge pine.

I don't even know
if Copeland really did it,
or
the ghouls are out early
this year.

But I'm pissed at all of them.
The ghouls,
Copeland,
and
especially Lacey,
who I thought
liked me.
She even gave me a high-five
after football practice
Tuesday.

But now she got me
grounded.
And I'm not allowed
to play football for
two days.

Maybe girls are ghouls.

by Lena

The Fog of Farronbrook - by Lena


With fall comes fog,
this morning faster than before,
that wet monstrous maw of Farronbrook
sucking in and out
in great greedy breaths,
dippling all in its path,
dead grass,
old garden kale,
my lashes,
as I stand in my pajamas
cursing the sop and rot
of this place that is not
Wildlight Island,
the delicate song of summer.

by Lassi

Summah - by Lassi

It's here!
Finals done,
graduation for Ari and Tina,
can't find a job yet -
-oh well-
lolling by the pool by myself
in last year's bikini,
sweet tea,
freshcrunching corn
raw on the cob,
warding off sunsparkles
with a draping hand,
a good book,
a second good book
standing by,
free to gently blend
into the gathering haze
of chlorine.