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Spring 2008

Poetry

VanBuren's picks:

Antonia Clark
Brad Johnson
Dale McLain
Roger Pfingston
Richard Rippon

John Anderson
Cristina Baptista
Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
Michael Brownstein
Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Alison Eastley
Brent Fisk
David Fraser
Krikor der Hohannesian
Amy MacLennan
Lisa Markowitz
Damon McLaughlin
Micki Myers
Roger Pfingston
Heather Schimel
Rachel Stewart
Lafayette Wattles

Flash Fiction

On Debunking Modern Art

Alex Nodopaka

Pushcart Nominees

Editors

Jennifer VanBuren
Jai Britton
Patrick Carrington

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Antonia Clark

Spring 2008

If By Agreeable


If by agreeable you mean laying aside the cutlery,
coming, sweet-tongued, to the table to spoon up

lukewarm soup, then there's no hope for it,
no good that can take hold. Every night,

you complain of dull knives, study your face
in their lackluster finish, expect an accounting.

I've caught you watching for a slip, for a cause
you can take in hand, the way you might like

to take a strong-willed woman. The stock pot
simmers on the stove, and the old dog whines

at the door. I tend to them, dutiful, watching
the way you tear a crusty loaf, sweep crumbs

to the floor with a quick wrist, the way you cut
into raw and tender meat, the way it bleeds.



A Fly on the Wall


A hidden camera, flyspeck
of eyes you've overlooked.
There's little I don't see:
a pixelated whirl
of human comedy,
slowed to a death march—
the many-faceted arguments,
the agonizing looks and sighs,
and endless undressings.
You envy me — my silky wings,
my sticky feet, and compound
eyes. But still despise.
Oh frail and paltry man! Just blink,
and I'll have flown. Yet you
will still be in my sights.
You move in slo-mo, man,
and I am always quicker
than you think.

Antonia Clark works for a medical software company in Burlington, Vermont. She has taught creative writing and co-administers an online poetry forum, The Waters. Her poems have appeared in The Orange Room Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Rattle, Stirring, The 2River View, and elsewhere. See Toni's poetry page for links to other online poems. Toni loves French food and wine, and plays French café music on a sparkly purple accordion.