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R O A D S

I remember times

When love and sex went hand-in-hand

When love and sax played counterpoint

When sax and sex blew crazy hot

I remember times

When Lady Jazz reached in my chest

And squeezed til joyous music played

Squeezed til music filled the void

I remember too

When love and hate both clashed and fought

When discord spun unwanted webs

The clash and crash of broken souls

Yet still all roads lead back to you

- by Bryn Fortey

First Night

It’s cold in here.

Is there a party outside?

I wonder what my sister’s doing?

It’s my first night.

My head is shaved and

I’m wearing orange overalls.

It’s dark.

Cold.

No sound.  

-by Gary Cummiskey

Photo Courtesy: David Balilty

Header Lines: Adrian Manning

Cartoon Art: Sub and Nil

~~~~

David Balilty is an Israeli artist with North African roots. He was born in Jerusalem in 1971 to a family of artists and musicians. In his most recent work, David has combined three mediums of  visual artistic experience for his abstract painting.

'Merry-Go-Round', Bryn Fortey's mixed fiction and poetry collection, was published by The Alchemy Press in 2014. His work has appeared in a variety of print and online sources over the years.

Adrian Manning writes from Leicester, England. He is also editor of Concrete Meat Press. He can be reached at www.concretemeatpress.co.uk.

Gary Cummiskey lives in Johannesburg. He is a poet, writer and publisher. He has had several chapbooks of poetry published over the past 20 years. His short fiction collection Off-ramp has been nominated for the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award 2014.

Subhankar das is a poet, bookstore owner, and publisher of Bangla experimental materials. He produced six short films that have been honored at international film festivals, and has translated the works of Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski in Bengali.

Nilimesh Dutta lives in Kolkata. He writes very seldom, and writes in Bengali alternative little magazines.

Gary Cummiskey

      © Gary Cummiskey


Watched/watching

We were being watched by the people on the boat. We were doing things. We were sticking our fingers in each other’s brains. They were watching us as we watched the samurai on horseback race along the shore.


Intimate lives

It is an evening in September.
You are typing 
in the next room.
The cat slips out of the window as
the horse slips in.
Soon the details of our intimate lives 
will be pasted on 
billboards 
throughout the city.


-by Gary Cummiskey


Art Courtesy: 'Mirror of Xtasy' by Gary Cummiskey

Gary Cummiskey lives in Johannesburg. He is a poet, writer and publisher. He has had several chapbooks of poetry published over the past 20 years. His short fiction collection Off-ramp has been nominated for the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award 2014.