KARIANNA JOHNSON
You

Always will I love
Listening to your voice
Imitating your words
Calms me down in a fight
Encourages me to go on
In this world...
Nothing compares to you
Can I ever find another
Handsome man like you
Another man so talented,
Intelligent, and artistic
No, I don't suppose I'll find
Someone quite like you.

DAVID HARRIS
DESPAIR

You have

no mail to open;
no red light blinks its urgency

at you

signifying
somewhere,

your voice

is desired
is desirable

you sit

among last week's newspapers
amid last month's dust

accusing you

last night's dirty dishes
tables, counters, chairs, forlorn

you read

in your bathroom mirror
tendrils of limp brown hair

your cheeks

sallow nightgown that bears
signs from meals and sweat

your voice

implores: make a sandwich
sweep away the yellowed pages

your face

among Mondays, Tuesdays,
and yesterdays

you pretend

not to hear the television
the measured voice of evening news

you turn

away from births
and murders in town;

you hear

the zoo has gained a cheetah
Dow-Jones is somewhat depressed

you know

the weather will be clear but cold tonight
somewhere, there are war and famine.

your side

of that dusty mirror
in house

your bottle

of relief is empty. His eyes seem empty.
Jesus smiles from a painting on the wall;

your lips

a cigarette burns five minutes joy
its stump crumpled into threadbare carpet

you curl

on the floor
an only refuge

your sleep

dreamless behind your closed curtains
a pale winter sun just now begins

your eyes

grow heay
descend into evening

you glance

upward,
pleading

your night

a silent prayer
to the savior on the wall

you

please
may never wake.