All Fall Down
By Stephanie Bonvissoto
Do you remember the night before?
I remember the night before.
There was a fire in the sky,
the thunder of angry giants stomping through the neighborhood,
the wind, a rolling howl.
A storm came to crack the heaven in two.
And the next morning dawned cool blue,
The scent of apple cider in the air.
It smelled like September,
Tuesday, September 11th.
Hero
By Jason Robert Mizula
Now he was broken from his glory days;
the whiskey wasn’t helping anymore.
There was no way he’d ever change his ways;
he drove back over to the liquor store.
The devil had been on his mind again;
he fought the feeling today was his last.
He could not twelve-step away from the pain;
just praying that this moment would soon pass.
Then he awoke in vomit, blood and tears;
the Sig Sauer was lying on his chest.
He had been dying daily all these years;
now he was dying for a lasting rest.
He knew he’d never see his friends again,
but bowed and said sarcastically, Amen.
