20 – Proof Commands Submission

suspicion, report, reprimand

a Jean Chretien proof

is a good proof

because its proven

lock, stock, and a baby unicorn

I transfer them to the red light

there’s no safeword

you learn your submission commands

defiance deletion

welcome to kindergarten

proof? demand proof?

the left, the right

who’s good?

proof sounds simple

submission commands an untruth

demands suspicion

commands supposition

a periscope of the self

with little between them

commands are recurring items

on my shopping list

one day, the dogs are gonna rise

command

sadomasochistic submission

Catherine Heard, Kathleen Betts, Bryne Helen Lewis, Natalee Caple, Todd Bruce, Andréa Ledding, Jacob Wren, Siobhan O’Flynn, Kateri Lanthier, Douglas Barbour, Ralph Kolewe, Vanessa Place, Linda Steer, Priscilla Brett, Kim O’Gorman, Warren Dean Fulton, Laurie Anne Fuhr, Amanda Earl, Gary Barwin, John Moore Williams

21 – The Entrance Is

entrancing, too bad

is also the exit is intransitive

is followed soon by a

narrow fissure

concealed by a brush, too small

your name thinks, slips inside

the territory

but we are not

the only way of thinking

enter any situation temporarily

enter the room

ransacked, traditional

iron soldiers scream from within

echo the halls of greatness

gone

the entrance is currently open

but expect a backwards exit

behind you

the apology, the forgiveness

leads to the end of the hall

you have been warned not to enter

just beyond reach

under the big top

the maze of life

wherever I put it

Gary Barwin, Ted Betts, Angela Rawlings, Brian Bartlett, Catherine Heard, Kateri Lanthier, Todd Bruce, Miekal And, Amanda Earl, Warren Dean Fulton, Jacob Wren, Andréa Ledding, Andrew Topel, Victor Coleman, Priscilla Brett, Elena Basile, Andre Bouchard, Joseph Brown, Natalee Caple, Kathleen Betts, Susan Christian, Nicole Collins, Kristen Peterson, Mike Hargrove, Jessa Hargrove

22 – Warping citizenship and

warping and woofing

and warping iconoclasm

and warping a brace of pirates

and warping sexual preference

and warping the gravimetric field displacement

and warping time and space faster than the speed of light

and ironing the rest

and warping gender and time

to live as Shakespeare

secretly dreaming of empty cannons

and warp factor 8 away from

entire cities on the warpath

wefting the national ghost

naturalizing the warped

and warping time-space

flying madly in circles

stockpiling ammunition

collateral damage

in warship and citizen

and warping citizenship and

woofing the rest

warping all is not very much fun

their perceptions, through deceptions

citizenship like fun house mirrors

Brian Bartlett, Vanessa Place, Natalee Caple, Andréa Ledding, Bryne Helen Lewis, Kateri Lanthier, Todd Bruce, Pearl Pirie, Andrew Topel, Tanis MacDonald, Gary Barwin, Mike Bouchard, Jamie Reid, Catherine Heard, Lynn McClory, Jacob Wren, Linda Steer, Warren Dean Fulton

23 – Press passes open

press

bags packed

decency and humanity surrendered

the airport death lens

jumping

passes

shoulder to the door

faces

microphones

caskets

hearts and minds

the unreconstructed

open

doors

to the sparkling photo op

mercantilist dream

come again and again

press

flowers in a long forgotten book of verse

open doors preferring closed door pronouncements

as we forgive our borders

open wide and awe

press passes

asking

the same questions to the same people

the same answers

windows shimmering

candlelight

the erotic stillness alien

open lovers

open doors

ear zoomed

press passes open

the gates to media mazes

predetermined pathways

Priscilla Brett, Tim Posgate, Catherine Heard, Roland Prevost, Tanis MacDonald, Linda Steer, Kathleen Betts, Rob Budde, Warren Dean Fulton, Gary Barwin, Lynn McClory, Andrew Topel, Kemeny Babineau, Jacob Wren, Todd Bruce, Richard Rathwell, Joan Guenther, James Dewar, Brian Bartlett, Michelle Mackay

24 – Interviews to Tell

interviews to tell the faint-of-heart from the worthy

the heroes from the villains

who did what when

while avoiding the whys and the world

will now the public misinform the powerful

regarding their imminent irrelevance?

interviews tell

interspeech to show

inner views

views too tall

the technology of the other

the remainder of oneself

the receptacle of becoming

to tell it like it isn’t

the longest yarns

water and coinless

tell less than was asked

more than we wanted to know

where the tales

lies in whispered radios

cover darkness

the inter’s tale

the iron maiden’s embrace

the first time I read what will not be heard

how writers will tell

what the interviewer puts the interviewee’s mouth

a robot by choice and circumstance

by the way, the non-believer will rot in hell

interviews to tell the loveliest written

in the midst of an alphabet

embarrassing outcomes tell all

tell where to find lies

Paul Vermeersch, Warren Dean Fulton, Jamie Reid, Jacob Wren, Angela Rawlings, Andrew Topel, Lynn McClory, Todd Bruce, Kristen Peterson, Amanda Earl, Andréa Ledding, Gary Barwin, Priscilla Brett, Catherine Heard, Nicolas Béaud, Joan Guenther, Brian Bartlett, John Bonomo, Joseph Brown, Karl Jirgens, Warren Dean Fulton, Tanis MacDonald, Natalee Caple, Richard Rathwell

26 – A story of

A story of a stubborn donkey who sat down at the gates of the city.

A story of who became you.

A story of perogies and betrayal.

A story of this from Casey: Daddy and the butterfly.

A story from Imogen: a story that is too shaky and wiggly to tell.

A story of random places, the unknown spaces out of time.

A story of deep repurcussions.

A story of a marmoset, an ice scraper and the love shared with a toilet bowl brush.

A story of communist artists in skirts.

A story of gargantuan proportions.

o stay for a story of

a story of heroics, a mad man and a chimpanzee, humanity, short and disappointing.

A story of the birth of a narration.

A story of no consequence to you perhaps but it altered my life forever…

A story of indescribable brevity. The end.

A story of the world shakes off its parasites when they become too noxious.

A story of poets who gave their all. Posting on Gregory’s facebook wall.

A story of no it doesn’t. It puts them in charge.

A story of outlandish proportions.

Brian Bartlett, Natalee Caple, Tanis MacDonald, Satu Kaikkonen, Kees Kapteyn, Pearl Pirie, Susan Christian, Kristen Peterson, Joan Guenther, Priscilla Brett, Gary Barwin, Jamie Reid, Todd Bruce, Carmen Racovitza, Mike Hargrove, Andréa Ledding, Jessa Hargrove, Catherine Heard

27 – Global Empire Fantasies

Napoleon’s career abound

yet eludes them

expand until they explode

cuckoldry fantasies

whistle Dixie and shrink-wrap

every McHappy meal

don’t forget to say cheese

feel a chill in the shadow of Ozymadias,

penal vampire empathies

dreamed up by a media

a cartoon mouse

global empire fantasies

need victims

along with the moon and stars

empire fantasies have nothing, are fun,

only the shortsighted see

a deathstar – Wikileaks

global fantasies, colonial whoredom

the receding red of Queen Victoria’s lace

empires outlive their welcome

disintegrate from within

Nick Treanor, Alice Robinson, Jamie Reid, Tanis MacDonald, Tom Cull, Andréa Ledding, Kristen Peterson, Brian Bartlett, Rob Budde, Warren Dean Fulton, Nicolas Béaud, Todd Bruce, Amanda Earl, Gary Barwin, Priscilla Brett, Catherine Heard, Jacob Wren