INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Chris Lord
Joseph McNair
Karyn M. Wolven
Geoffrey Philp
Paul B. Roth
Duane Locke
Silvia Scheibli
Shutta Crum
Felino Soriano
Steve Beaulieu
Donald Hewlett
Alan Britt
Joanie Freeman
Mervyn M. Solomon
Jerry Blanton
Marilyn Churchill
Running Cub
Mukul Dahal
Alice Paris
Helen Losse
Fred Wolven

FLIGHT

The salt of the earth
Lies in dirt smeared riverbeds
Trailing the cheeks of children
As cries become laughs
And smiles of immeasurable breadth
Span infinite happiness
Across less than a decade of childhood
Spent playing in the park,
Where James is Jimmy
Or Junior,
And he skims over the ground
With outstretched legs
And sails through the air
On daring and wonder
From the apex of a swing,
Then lands in the dirt,
Which hurts, and the tears come,
But then their raging torrents
Become stripes like war paint
When he turns and sees
Just how far he flew,
Splitting his face
With a smile of victory.

        

Steve Beaulieu, Miami