fiction
astral summer
i. wet visions
skidding around town on my heels
while visions of you reel and
rip
me
open - -
I’m etching your visage
on the back of napkins,
in the margins of my waitress’ pad
hazy & weeping while I polish martini glasses
absent minded
absent of mind
lost
in the well of my heart - -
cursed to wander
cursed to wonder why
as the palm fronds quiver and glisten
in the setting sun ; wet visions
remember the time we kissed,
under the balcony at midnight - -
ankle deep in the rose bushes?
somewhere somebody flushed with shame
somewhere somebody blushed with longing
how can I live
if it never happened again?
what life could be
if it happened forever
if it happened forever . . .
I got lost in the infinite depths of your crystal eyes
clear blue, crystallized -pink and creased,
weepy and melancholic.
mannish, you extend a plaster hand - -
I blanch, turn away
kick a stray Tecate can
the beard-shadow on your jaw golden,
glinting in the late afternoon sun.
ii. she lays down in the shadows
guess I’ll go walking through the roses again
get lost in the pinks and corals, twilight maiden
snap a .jpeg for her roommate,
who’s dancing the night away in garments of gold.
the full moon bathes her clean, bathes her, cold - -
watch the hours slide through your fingers like sand;
maybe you’ve held a dream of me in your hand...
or thought of me in some idle turn,
turned me over in your palm and yearned.
maybe you’ve thought of me in some idle turn,
turned me over in your palm and yearned ...
I’d give it all
I’d give it all away
anything
I’d give you everything
anything
feel the powdery lavender petals on your cheek
hold this precious life, close - -
she quivers, weak
she lays down in the shadows
I’d give it all
I’d give it all away
anything
I’d give you everything
anything
iii. what’ll it be, Valentine
will it be hell and high water
or a slack tide that lasts forever
slipping a folded sutra into your palm
smacking on a handful of rose cherries
idle . . . and on a pedestal.
just keeping looking at me like that…
you’re a star to me….
you’re a star to me.
iv. like a bad habit / ghost
it’s a small town after a while
but you hide me in your pocket like a bad habit
stroking the rim of of your glass
dim lit under the tiki thatch
making me ask - - making me ask
roses scattered on the dash
& I'm laying limp, in blissful rapture
moving wanly through the crowd
gazing languidly at the clouds
staring at nothing
staring at nothing
picking me up for the show
guess I'l never know
guess I'll never know
it’s a small town after a while,
and you haunt me like a bad habit
just hanging around
seeing everything,
seeing everybody,
polite in the corner - -
baby you can watch me
you can watch me walk away
I don’t love you anymore.
saw you passing in the night again.
you & me we just can't win
the apparition of a memory.
the place we shared
a mythic space,
a glass cabal
where you stroked the walls,
showed me a world beyond- -
saw you passing in the night again
through the haze in an east side parlor-
alone, like a ghost-
while my new man takes all my cash for beer
and drinks it on the porch
just hanging around
seeing everything,
seeing everybody,
polite in the corner - -
baby you can watch me
you can watch me walk away
I don’t love you anymore.
I don’t love you anymore.
A+HRRA award summer 2023
The Summer 2023 Arts + Human Rights Research Award will be open to submissions this summer (approx. 14:51 UTC June 21 2023 - 06:50 UTC September 23rd 2023). The topic of the Summer 2023 A+HRRA is AI, Computer Logic, and Human Rights.
th_Eroses, an arts publication www.theroses.xyz, is awarding $100 for a work of artistic / literary research that addresses or concerns human rights in conjunction with this season's topic, AI, Computer Logic, and Human Rights. The term 'research' here is intended to indicate the process of creation, exploration, and discovery, rather than the compiling of archival facts and/or materials, although the compiling of archival facts and/or materials may be a part of the process of exploration and discovery, or a part of the process of shaping the path or direction of discovery. This is intended to be an open-ended premise, to support the range of work that may occur in artists' and writers' unique processes.
From the UN:
"What Are Human Rights? Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination."
https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/human-rights
Successful submissions may, but are not required to, focus on investigative, process-based exploration and material discovery. Successful submissions may couple rigorous (or subjective) analysis with documentation of investigative, process-based exploration and discovery. Submissions do not need to be factual; forms of literary fiction, subjective expression, abstraction, choreography, and/or non-narrative presentations will be considered as well. Submissions in all languages and media are welcomed.
The goal of this award is to amplify artistic voices that inquisitively and critically approach the pressing issues of our time, to create a habitat where a unique form of creative journalism can thrive, and to provide th_Eroses readers with artistic / literary insights into key issues.
Please note: If your work is submitted and selected for the award, you consent to the publication of your submitted work by th_Eroses now and in the future. Not all submissions will win the award; there may be one submission chosen, or multiple submissions, or none of the submissions. Selected submissions will receive an email of acceptance and next steps.
Please submit work to theroses.directors@gmail.com with "Entry: Arts + Human Rights Research Award" in the subject line.