Fragments

by Craig Farrell
In this nights diversion
     city inches forward like liquid light
Drifting from purpose to pulpit
     gathering discarded dignity from a scarred landscape
All these streets have names that sound like prostitutes
     you’ve seen it all
Seen all from the shattered windows etched in tattooed walls
From the side of a road littered with the colour of sex and revolution
And the shadows of contempt tapping on a melodrama
     Like a junkie in heat
you’ve seen it all


I cover the sky
In pastels and fire and sweat
     dripping one drop of virtue in each symmetrical gap
I cover the sky
With hands outstretched and passion diluted with salt of her fear
     taste lingering on a pallet of steel and disguise.
I cover the sky
In the midst of a victory
     stolen from the edge of every sadness felt in fleeting seconds.

We listen to silence
Exile the screams of an ancient voice beckoning its own satisfaction
     tearing at felicity with carnal purpose
We listen to silence
Shrouded in decadence and hunger and form
     soliciting cravings and brazen fever
We listen to silence
Delusion dissolves at day break igniting nostalgia and naked regret
     for moments we lost caressing a future.

Showpiece

by Nate Simpson

I hope you don’t walk atop

the marble statues often

they’re slippery with wet feet

their round heads quite tricky

you run, you jump

you slip and skip away

you slide, you fondle

a nymph among stone, you play

A museum of the loved

you opened for all to see

each guest a new centre piece, you

even carved this pedestal for me.

Her Name Was Rote

(Sestina)

by Nate Simpson

Engraving in mind memories of you, rote

in fervour, potent, drunk with illicit dreams:

red rose petal bed, damp dark earth, giving sun

rays painted our disrobed bodies honey gold; light,

long lasting, from a sun that never set. You

came back, long after your shadow’s first eclipse

The Other Side of Sunlight

by Nate Simpson

Red dog found me
long, long ago,
yet, I still feel
his velvet puppy nose
against my cheek,
the imprint
lingering
long, long after
the wet dried up.


Sunrise of
bearable light,
he was a
comfort present
when others weren’t;
he knew when to be close,
or just near enough.
Head, resting, upon
my leg was
a certain sign
of sympathy, or
simply
a bowl
in need
of filling.

These few,
inadequate words
betray the greater
span of memory:
conquests of
hill and vale, he,
always in the lead,
propelled
by a
tornado
for a tail.

And oh! Those
anxious moments
canoeing Burnt Island Lake:
when
spying
on
a
moose
at
water’s
edge
he nearly put us
in the drink, simply
for want of a new,
four-legged,
friend!

Age
clipped
the
stride, but
his spirit
never faded:
a red streak over
bright winter white,
downhill on toboggan,
sniffing the air, cracking a
toothy smile with the ecstasy
of scent,
at warp speed.

Through walks in
lashing winter
storm, or over
the rocky shore
of a darkening lake,
he was on watch,
present
as the air.

Red dog touched me
long, long ago.

Gone now.

Yet, I
still feel
the soft
touch of
my
Shadow’s
paw prints,
within.

Author Profile: Jeffrey Paul Dore

Jeffrey Paul Dore is a writer, well, hopefully. With a strong appreciation of how visual images conveyed emotional experiences, film was an obvious choice. Many scripts and films later, branching out into writing novels seemed a natural progression. We’ll see where this all leads. Paul's blog of stories – both real and imagined – can be found at Contradiction of Logic and follow him @jeffreypauldore.

Author Profile: Nate Simpson

Nate Simpson is a founding member of Black Horse Press. He works for an engineering company and lives in the east end of Toronto. The foundation of his writing is poetry, but Nate has been expanding into short fiction over the past year.

Author Profile: Philippa Dowding

Philippa Dowding is a poet, author and copywriter. She's written award-winning copy for magazines as diverse as Maclean's, Chatelaine, Today's Parent and Canada's History. Her poetry has appeared in The Literary Review of Canada, The Adirondack Review, blue skies poetry, and other journals. She has published two YA novels to date: The Gargoyle in My Yard (2009) and The Gargoyle Overhead (2010), with a third coming soon. She'd love to publish a poetry collection one day...