Sometimes “sometimes I think I understand everything but I know I’m wrong” – Frank Stanford Age won’t deliver wisdom like a package To your door, followed by a photo e-mail To prove it had been left there, just in case Porch pirates beat you to picking it up. Wisdom seeps into your foundation like Moisture beading on cold cellar walls. It dangles off the ordinary like a frayed Thread hangs from a favorite sweater. Not the mere accumulation of years But a summoning from out of them. M.J. Arcangelini , born in Pennsylvania in 1952, has resided in northern California since 1979. He has published in little magazines, online journals (including The James White Review, Rusty Truck, The Ekphrastic Review, The Gasconade Review, Trailer Park Quarterly, As It Ought To Be Magazine, and The Rye Whisky Review), & over a dozen anthologies. He is the author of 6 published collections, the most recent of which is PAWNING MY SINS, 2022 (Luchador Press).
Business Trips My dearest trustworthy man. My nerves are wracked. Not wealthy, only moderately sexy, but untrue? never. (Despite the warnings) Your undertaking is to fulfill my oldest dream. And yet, there are all these business trips. A coincidence or not? Your cheery Chicago conference and my San Francisco draining away. I’m like a funeral in three-quarter time. Where are the mourners? Maybe I should make lists. Or come to terms with my body. But then there’s this relationship and that brutal law of diminishing returns. As for my head… each one of my thoughts refutes the one before. I’m beginning to think that love is a flawed premise. An explosion where the sudden shock compromises the long term harm. Andrej Bilovsky (he/him) is a poet and performance artist. Former editor of Masculine-Feminine and Kapesnik. His poetry can be found at the Quiver and Down In The Dirt.