Short, Fast, and Deadly

102.

Some
destinations
satisfy
desires.

Some
difficulties
sow
disorders.

Some
digressions
stifle
dialogue.

Sit
down.

by Thomas Cochran of West Fork

Description of a Large Cat's Cry

A universe
of sound

followed by

no sound
at all.
 
by Thomas Cochran of West Fork

He Tries to Review the Events of 2010 but Quits in Despair upon Reading the First Item on the List, Dated Jan. 1: A Found Poem

A suicide bombing
occurred at a volleyball game
in Pakistan, killing at least 95
and injuring over 100.
 
by Thomas Cochran of West Fork

Charybdis Flying

Fleeing the gargantuan oil spill, Charybdis hitched up her skirts and launched her swirling bulk into space. The deep freeze turned her into a glass comet trailing a tail of broken galleons and rusted biplanes. She flew straight towards Venus. When she hit the atmosphere she shattered and reformed in the steaming sulfuric acid. Here she remains with globs of melted spacecraft dripping down her cheeks.

 
by Jessica Otto of Jacksonville

What the Frog Said before His Leap

A warning to all
who tackle the seventeen-
woe will follow woe.

by Thomas Cochran of West Fork

On the Way to the Courthouse

She knows he’ll always think
she left him for another and forgot

everything-
        something
                she did not do then
                cannot do now
                will not do ever.

by Thomas Cochran of West Fork

Insomnia

In the house’s settling
I hear the dead moving

from room to room
and long to see them

but do not look for fear
they will leave me again.
 
by Thomas Cochran of West Fork

The Passage of Time

History rides
across the plains,

urging itself

with an ever-
changing hat.

by Thomas Cochran of West Fork