Tailgate Jesus. By Ryan Quinn Flanagan

We are sitting around drinking
and listening to music
when Norman Greenbaum’s
Spirit in the Sky comes on.

We both sing along.
This song is one of my favourites.

I tell her this song has always made me happy
even though I don’t have a religious bone
in my body.

Wouldn’t you go to church and be one of those wild
singing Baptists if they played this?
she asks.

I’d be front pew and center if they played this
each Sunday and had a barbecue out back
after the service.

They could just tailgate it,
she jokes.

There’s a lot to like about tailgate Jesus,
I say.

To tailgate Jesus,
she laughs raising her glass.

To tailgate Jesus,
I second.

Our glasses clank.
We drink enough blood of the lamb
to not remember large parts of
this rainy Friday night.

Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a male gigolo for hire.  Presently residing along the sunny shores of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where he spends his days drinking discount Tequila and accusing chemtrails of being "sky farts."  His work can be found both in print and online in such joints as: The Rye Whiskey Review, The Dope Fiend Daily, Outlaw Poetry Network, Horror Sleaze Trash, and Under The Bleachers.

NAMES by John Tustin

Mr. Hyde is in plain sight
Mr. Wide is very narrow
Mr. Luce is very tight
Mr. Smiley’s full of sorrow

Mr. Mann is not a man
Mr. Dryer is a wino
Mr. White is very tan
Mr. Black’s a full albino!

Mr. Swift is not too bright
Mr. Sweet is very sour
Mr. Amity loves to fight
Mr. Strong is without power

Mr. Gordo’s very thin
Mr.  Braver has no guts
Mr. Outer won’t come in
Mr. Sain’s completely nuts!

Mr. Capps’ head is naked
Mr. Tam’s head’s the same
To Mr. Godley, nothing’s sacred
A man is more than just his name

John Tustin is tired of trying to write third person bios. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online.

Dumbass Cops by John Grochalski

dumbass cops

ride up and down suburban developments

looking for trouble

dumbass cops

are trying to catch teens smoking weed

or shooting heroin

dumbass cops

have never seen a rental car

in this neighborhood

or maybe even a car with out of state plates

out of state plates

are always suspicious to dumbass cops

out of state plates mean trouble

for dumbass cops

who have watched too many

dumbass cop shows

dumbass cops check their dumbass reflections

in their dumbass mirrors

then they put their doughnuts away

and turn on their dumbass police lights

to chase a car three blocks

before pulling someone over

just to check out their i.d.'s

and then letting them go

because dumbass cops

don’t have anything better to do right now

they already shot their quota

of young black men for the week

and have to cool their jets and sit there

like the dumbasses they are

waiting on something else.

John Grochalski is the author of the poetry collections, The Noose Doesn’t Get Any Looser After You Punch Out (Six Gallery Press 2008), Glass City (Low Ghost Press, 2010), In The Year of Everything Dying (Camel Saloon, 2012), Starting with the Last Name Grochalski (Coleridge Street Books, 2014), and The Philosopher’s Ship (Alien Buddha Press, 2018). He is also the author of the novels, The Librarian (Six Gallery Press 2013), and Wine Clerk (Six Gallery Press 2016).  Grochalski currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where the garbage can smell like roses if you wish on it hard enough.

Religion __________ ? by PW Covington

So,
I’ll just believe
     and behave
As I please, and

I’m cool with any religion
That wants to claim me

PW Covington writes in the beat tradition of the North American highway.

His latest book, a collection of short fiction, titled North Beach and Other Stories was recently named a 2019 Finalist in LGBTQ Fiction. Follow him @BeatPW

Dirty Old Guys by Dan Provost

 Don’t we all want to be dirty sometimes?
Trudged through the mud emotionally?

Can’t help but looking at her undies on a dress two times too small.
Quickly staring up…saying to yourself: “my oh my—I just didn’t look there!”

Getting bagged by the wife as you stare into endless cleavage…
Reassuring her that she’s still a beauty.

Once in a while it’s good feeling cheap…
Naughty, but accepted as a filthy old man,

Dwindling down to limp emphatic…when the urge is there
but the power isn’t.

  Dan Provost has been published throughout the small press for many years.  He is the author of nine books and lives in Berlin, New Hampshire with his wife Laura.

NOT ALL POETS MAKE IT BIG. By Bryn Fortey

I’ve just been reading

Al Winans poem about Bukowski

A great piece, as always

Since AW is a writer of note

And Buk related copy

Is always of interest

But then I read a Facebook message

That British poet Bruce Hodder

Woke in the middle of an epic warning

For a seizure that fortunately

Failed to materialize

But left him with 

Headaches and nausea

It’s something he lives with

Every day of his life

With an attitude and outlook

That deserves, and gets

My total admiration

Not all poets make it big

Some very good writers

End up as mere footnotes

Lost in a deluge 

That would have floated

Any number of arks 

Hodder, in a writing career

Often interrupted by considerations

Outside his personal control

Crafts meaningful lines

With dedication and devotion

Yet has only recently

Had his first collection published

But he is no less a talent

In spite of remaining under the radar 

Not all poets make it big

Few get the full Bukowski treatment

But the lesser known

Are there to be found, and enjoyed

     

Bryn Fortey is a veteran writer from Wales in the UK. Widely published

over the years, he has had two collections published by The Alchemy 

Press, both featuring a mix of short stories and poetry. He is grateful that

in old age he is still able to put pen to paper and finger to keyboard

Unspoken rule By Alex Z. Salinas

Eat this word

Drink this image

The poet answers to metaphor 

Desires only the clean page

And I soil it

Wherever she drops me 

Alex Z. Salinas lives in San Antonio, Texas. His first full-length book of poems, Warbles, will be released by Hekate Publishing in fall 2019. He serves as poetry editor of the San Antonio Review.