by Janis Butler Holm
Landscape
At the fertility dance, I got my antlers caught in the low hanging mise-en-abîme. It was circuitous, yet rectangular. Lovely moonlight, though. Frankly, I was just trying to re-align the country; you know, shift the nation’s latitude a little toward the north, but nothing was going my way, so I checked the database of romantic breakups and learned that if I can’t pass the buck, I’d better learn to pass the check. So much for my mini-vacation at the Temple of Desire.
After I skateboarded home, I thought, It must take a lot of atomic energy to control your thoughts. When I called the Commissioner to enquire about the necessary angstroms, I was shunted to voicemail and subjected to robotized Swedish rap music. Finally, a sexy chatbot informed me that, while there is no information available to the general public, I should never give up on pursuing my dreams. I sure miss nostalgia.
Some days, I wonder if there would be fewer dead if only we would stop counting the bodies. It’s not a popularity contest, you know. Human ancestors may have walked on two legs, seven million years ago, but that doesn’t explain the inner lives of machines. Now that they happen daily, earthquakes have become much more predictable. The sea is ablaze in a panorama of flames, the mountains drown in the sleep of their icy floods. I don’t control the landscape; I just work here.
Brad Rose was born and raised in Los Angeles, and lives in Boston. He is the author of five collections of poetry and flash fiction: Lucky Animals, No. Wait. I Can Explain., Pink X-Ray, de/tonations, and Momentary Turbulence. WordInEdgeWise is forthcoming in later 2023. Seven times nominated for a Pushcart Prize and three times nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology, Brad’s poetry and fiction have appeared in, The Los Angeles Times, The American Journal of Poetry, New York Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Clockhouse, Folio, Cloudbank, Baltimore Review, 45th Parallel, Best Microfiction 2019, and other publications. Brad is also the author of seven poetry chapbooks, among them, Democracy of Secrets, Collateral, An Evil Twin is Always in Good Company, and Funny You Should Ask. His website is www.bradrosepoetry.com His blog is https://bradrosepoetry.com/blog/.
Janis Butler Holm served as Associate Editor for Wide Angle, the film journal, and currently works as a writer and editor in sunny Los Angeles. Her prose, poems, art, and performance pieces have appeared in small-press, national, and international magazines. Her plays have been produced in the U.S., Canada, Russia, and the U.K. https://www.janisbutlerholm.com
https://facebook.com/janisbutlerholm https://www.laplaywrights.org/member/Janis-Butler-Holm.