INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Fahredin Shehu
Elisavietta Ritchie
Uvie Gwewhegbe
Jennifer Burd
George Miller
Robert Penick
Laszlo Slomovits
Richard Gartee
Gale Acuff
Stephen Sleboda
Robert Nisbet
Chris Spitters
Silvia Scheibli
Michael Lee Johnson
Alicia Mathias
Alan Britt
Y. Przhebelskaya
Helen Gyigya
Aneek Chatterjee
Alex Ferde
Running Cub
Joanie Freeman
Shutta Crum
Fred Wolven
Ann Arbor Review
is an independent
International Journal & ezine
Copyright (c) 2020
Francis Ferde
All rights revert back to each poet.
--editor / Southeastern Florida
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AAR history note: in print 1967 - 1980. Irregular publications 1980 - 2004. As ezine 2004 - present. Most of 55 years all together....
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staff:
Francis Ferde
Silver Grey Fox
Running Cub
Fred Wolven
Submissions via e-mail:
Worker Dead At Desk For Five Days
...Read the headline. He had a heart attack and died
and wasn't inquired upon for five days.
The symptoms of my death won't be as obvious. I'll play
it cool, walk around like nothing's wrong. That's my
nature. I wouldn't want anybody to know. I'm sure
that I would have no appetite but I would order food
and some discreet way of making it seem as though I
had consumed it.
I would fall mute too but I have been known to sit very
quiet, even in conversation, so, no big change there.
Saying hello to people would not be a problem, as I have
been known to nod my hellos. Or I could wear a
tippable hat. Hats, I don't generally wear unless it's
really cold, what with my excessive body heat. Body
heat wouldn't be an issue, of course. Hugs and
handshakes would be conspicuously cold, but it's quite
impressive what acting like nothing's wrong can
accomplish.
I have a friend who works security at a hospital
emergency ward. She says the staff is often confused
when two people come in together, one sobbing and
trembling, the other calm, and it turns out the calm one
is the one with the bone sticking out of his arm.
Act like nothing's wrong. It works. Do it well enough,
and it hypnotizes people. It makes them think you're
the next reigning king of awesome. It even psychs you
out. Poise in the eye of a shit storm is the stuff of
heroes. You can make the gunman put the gun down
with only your magical radiance.
It's a way to make dogs stop growling at you.
But
it's also what perpetuates fascist regimes. Acting
like nothing's wrong. It can do all sorts of damage in all
sorts of ways.
When you're in extreme need, habitually acting like
nothing's wrong can be a disadvantage. But it saves
embarrassment. So, depending on how much you want
to avoid the attention that is usually gained by being
dead, you might opt to just act like you're alive, to the
best of your ability, anyway. That's what I would do. I
apologize in advance for my cold handshake.
George Miller