Poems
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irreconcilable ambiguity (after John Stezaker)
By Nathan Shepherdson, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lipsi never sleep in autumn.
22nd century workers complete their monument to loneliness.
only one of the apostles wore pearls.
my eyes can breathe. -
You're Love One In Heaven Says Hi
By Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lips, Laura Jean McKayIn the window across the way is a cloud.
I watch a bird fly through it.
Footnote: this poem was created using the Between-the-action constraint as the starting point.
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SEVEN-YEAR SEASON
By Jeet Thayil, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsI whisper your name and the day turns warm.
A third-quarter moon holds the father of Jupiter
in place, farther than ever, slower and meaner
through space, disappearing, simmering. -
tv disturbing static
By Waverley Stanley Jr, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsI dreamt I was taken hostage at gunpoint
by a man who stuck his tongue in my mouth
stop
the fireflies were out last night, and you were one of them -
all the while, trying to start the engine
By Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lips, Helen Franzmann(for Jupiter)
between waking and sleep, two switches flicker
connecting stop-starts from Life and Now -
Inverted Weather
By Toby Fitch, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsA car in front of you jumps out of the road like an orca and lands on its back
Kisses a spider’s web in the dried-out garden bed beside the train track
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An historical notation that you've known better (up-down and I)
By Andrew McLellan, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lipsif there was a beginning then this beginning was a moment
press your palms together and feel the heat it generates
how each event is misshapen
acupuncturists used to use fishbones and saprophyte -
I Love You (they do not exist)
By Tamryn Bennett, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsDesert is a childhood
how we bury time in sand
hands born to excavate
impale, inhale a fetish, hide -
Throes
By Kate Lilley, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsThis world is a ball – give it to me
or take it from me (if you can).
Quick, quicker, quickest,
all the parts of speech apply. -
for Hansie
By Helen Franzmann, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsI’ve often wondered about the
soft rumble that occurs when you laugh
washing you now I understand -
Principles for victims and others
By Robin M Eames, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsThe patient is unfit to appear / in this Act
in absence of person / the person becomes an involuntary patient
when the person is admitted.
A person is presumed / a person only if it’s appropriate -
clowder loop
By Raelee Lancaster, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsIn Japan, the Community cat – or Chiiki-neko – has no owner
but is collectively beloved.
Beloved sees you open heart / hearth / hand: Bastet’s stalwart -
Assembly
By Vidya Rajan, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lips1.
The bell rings.
We march into the yard -
neat hair, neat knees, -
Spiral
By Sam Wagan Watson, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lips[The unravelling of a dream-weaved…on the event-horizon of rapid eye movement…]
In this ephemeral dreamscape, reality is a collapsing Escher staircase, void of control… I am delivered to streets that offer familiarity but are simply cheap knock-offs, these Australian dreams… a Hill’s Hoist that could snap in the rush of a weather-front…overcast sk… -
never ask me to perform that part of the ceremony again
By Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lips, Kate Lilleysleep by pressing a tiny button
to take away the pricking pains of the side
the green toothache
all blue spots or marks that happen therein -
A Recipe
By Jacob Polley, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsOften, an old book, where recipes were written down, or another person who still holds a recipe in their head, is the best source for a recipe. The Raymond Chandler Omnibus, blue cloth hardback, 1944, too mildewed to keep. A person with a recipe could be anyone. What they look like won’t show if they have a recipe or not. People can surprise you w… -
LIZA MINELLI TURNS OFF A LAMP
By Maddie Nixon, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsLife is a cabaret
My wife is a Cabernet
Dance is a pas de bourrée
The literal French-to-English translation leaves more questions than answers -
Nothing’s half hours les demi-heures de Rien
By Pam Brown, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted LipsBut time is not a fish,
waiting to be caught.
~ Miranda Mellis
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where memory stops
By Sandra Selig, Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lipshow ruffled you seem
you’ve taken all the poetry out of it, haven’t you?
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I’m bored… but you like it, don’t you?
By Vacant Dragon à la Subverted Lips, Sawako NakayasuWhat if a film never reaches the screen because viewers walk away?
– Susan Howe
I don’t want to feel like a tourist.
