let me watch

Ring the Buzzer
by Jackson Grind

i always arrive with an entourage
of wise men
who converse only of compromised morals
and sexual undertones
and ask "what else is there to speak of?"

women who accessorize
with neon bags
and empty glasses frames
swallow my pride
and indulge the vanity
which i choke down for every meal
and chase with something stiff
on the rocks

i exit through a trap door
to suit my idiom
and the angel on my shoulder
hasn't paid rent in years

we think so

stuck inside instability,
marching a broken path.
accept theres no way out
and it won't help to ask.
you've got to learn this on your own
but when you finally come to comprehend,
please understand,
the rules of the game grow more complicated.

break down the heartache.
build your own tragedy.

so do the numbers, build yourself a home.
find a wife and leave her all alone.
she'll make you dinner and wash your clothes.
and drown her sister with sobs over the telephone.
trap her with lost looks and dresses.
let her build herself these broken ledges
to stand upon all afternoon
neglect sinched tight like a noose.
all it takes is one slight of foot.
will she jump or will you push?
regardless, a real man would follow.

break down the heartache.
build your own tragedy.

_william j toburn

kekekeke

Three Poems by Virgil Cross

I watch you
From an outcrop
Of desert stone
I wait for you
Warm bedrock
Against my bones
Servile to this rock
And to your desert rules
I watch you
From an outcrop
Of city stone
I wait for you
Cold concrete
Against my bones
Servile to this block
And to your city rules
Every time I touch you
It's my withering flesh
Against your weathered bones


________________________________


Last night I saw myself
In the future
Felt real confident
About how things were
Jell-O shots with Jesus when he's down


________________________________


Kids think
They're entitled
To everyone's lawn
Know this girl
From Winter Park Florida
Says the neighbors
Ride their bikes in her grass
All day long
Grownups think
They're entitled
To just their own lawn
They guard it
Like a fort in the sun
All day long
And the stars
Oh the stars
They get all this fame
But don't you think
The spaces in-between
Need some photos
In a book about
The spaces in-between?

Jackson Grind. And His Latest Thoughts.

"All About the Visuals"
By Jackson Grind


this connection
of both infinitely small
and infinitely large
this connection
of homeless stabbings
and empty cigarette packs
this connection
of exaggerated skylines
and coco butter smooth skin
this connection
can be shared with you
and only you
<3

______________


someone once asked me if i was a messy person
based on my bathroom etiquette
i thought on the matter and replied,
"i never leave a mess
but i make a mess wherever i go."

Haiku.

Here are some shitty haikus
i'd like some good ones
contact is available

I rearranged the circuits
Blue plugged into green
Black is all colors

Your hair smelled alright
Under me
I was jacking off

The floor became a window
Could see forever
Would have made a better door

I can admit your eyes shine
I’m guilty of love
I also don’t give a fuck

AWP.MAIN

Air Waves

My grey eyes reflect a grey desert
void of life, inspiration, form, hope, etc…
(my desk)
I hold on to the memories of sobriety
ideals
and skinned elbows.

A human interest story on the radio
made me cry this morning
(Alzheimer’s and shrapnel wounds)
it’s casual Friday, in a casual world

Doug is cackling wildly again
(the laugh of sinister satisfaction)
at something marginally clever
he graced the department with

women will smile, or scorn
(orgasm withdrawal symptoms)
or consider crash dieting
fidelity, and Medicare plans

and being a child
I want to ask them
under a microscope of honesty
and free of baggage
(charades):
how cruel will life become?

AWI.MAIN

pistil

one can’t help but sympathize
with the fate of dandelions:
that which rests in a child’s breath
a nostalgic death by puckered lips

and you look at me now
with a frightful understanding
of synchronized swing sets
and the superstitions of childhood chants

you blow cool air across
the ridges of my lips
a warm whisper enters my ear
downcast, I face the reaper