PASCAL:
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished colleagues, friends. My purpose here today is to demonstrate a new surgical procedure which will change, nay, has already changed the treatment of… oh, let’s say, nervous disorders. No, let’s not say that. Messy term. Let’s call
Issue Two – October 2001
Pascal’s Shortcut
By Ken Jenks
All That Is Holy
By White Bear Woman
The earth does not care whether
we are nourished by her bounty or not,
or whether we notice her or not.
She flowers for herself alone,
bears fruit unto herself alone.
Returning to Alaska
By White Bear Woman
Today I head north over water,
following something blindly
into the wilderness of ocean,
following something as primitive as love.
Your Own Best Lover
By White Bear Woman
If you live alone long enough
your own life begins to make love to you.
It starts as casually as any friendship,
gifts appear,
Between the Worlds
By White Bear Woman
It is night.
Morning will come,
but now, everyone I have ever loved
is sleeping.
In My Fiftieth Year
By White Bear Woman
life begins calving
like the glacier calves.
Huge chunks breaking free and
giving in to saltwater,
Monologues
By Richard Carter
I don’t know what got into me. I mean, I like my job, and I like most people, but some . . . it’s like, when they become tourists they leave their brains at home. This lady today, she came off the boat with her bicycle, walking up the middle of the roadway. So I asked her to move over with the foot traffic. Simple. I’m the ferry agent. People are supposed to listen
Continue reading...Objects
By John Sangster
from time to time become needy, call out for attention. The stereo drops
the left speaker in mid-song causing Dylan to withdraw even further into
himself. You peek behind the components rack–a hopeless tangle of
wires — tap the side of the preamp: What is it? What do you want?
Words
By John Sangster
Words… once spoken, don’t dissipate, never to be heard from again. Most people
aren’t aware of this. Another thing is that words stick around pretty
close to home. Sure, they might shift about in the breeze, collect up
against the curb (we’re talking sound here, they won’t plug the drain),
The Eye
By John Sangster
The eye… receives information upside down and in reverse, leaving it to the brain to
unscramble the mess. It’s unsettling since I’m not sure the brain can be
trusted . . .
Rowing Home
By Molly Swan-Sheeran
The moon is hidden behind the thick grey
but I know it is fully round and ripe up there.
I launch my dinghy and row out into the darkness
sighting my course by a big grey stump of a
Untitled
By White Bear Woman
It is possible to move through the world
carrying messages to yourself
that you forget to open,