Poetry

"what is stewardship without empathy..."

John Dorroh taught writing based science for several decades. He required his students to use their imagination...a lot. Many of them thanked him later (with beers) for helping them think out of the box.

"...looking not for exits but the horizon..."

"...days passed by and the flight of time..."

"...I can see her smile reaching her coy brown eyes..."

"...Witches cast spells; send superstitions to hell..."

"In 1964, my father and uncle loaded the U HAUL..."

"...I found no hope to live like a king or as a happy person..."

"...advertised next to survival manifestos for the worried sick man..."

"...of course, the ruining party was represented..."

"...when men and women with cameras and microphones come to the door..."

Read them carefully: it's all too easy to say "It's too hard to see them as real."

"...In the glow I could see the burning desire of our times..."

"...The touch of your hand is more than I can bear..."

"...one more expense on your receipt..."

"...Tony still has your golf bag, by the way..."

"...basic commodities have kissed scarcity AGAIN..."

"...leave them to laugh at the desert's edge..."

Michael Fiorito is currently a contributing short story editor for Mad Swirl magazine. In 2018, his short story collection "Freud?s Haberdashery Habits & Other Stories" was published by Alien Buddha Press.

"...some get to glim others slip away..."

"...but you can't let your attention wander for one second..."

"...guitar solos long and scraggly as 19th century beards..."

"A fortnight from their oasis destination..."

"...lessons that I think are wrong..."

"...She had to go back home..."

"...waves brought much too high like wind on a lake..."

"...You can do your best to pretend the fall of Rome is not upon us..."

"...Tomorrow the distant castle's shadow will be gone..."

"...there's too many sprains in this house..."

"...Brightly cliffed and shining, On the roof of the sky..."