083121c

My son-in-law is a driving to a disaster area. Some people call it Baton Rouge; he calls it home. Best case scenario: the right to food in the fridge has not permanently ruined the appliance and can be thrown out with a grimace. Several trees could have fallen on the roof. The power is almost certainly out. Trees may be blocking access to history, the whole neighborhood, or a larger area. He may run out of gas waiting for access to a pump at the last station that still has power. Or he may have driven past that one and nd run out of gas on the interstate shoulder. He's not a fool, doing this for fun. He is in the essential employee, and has to show up tomorrow morning. I think I worry more here than I would if I was driving the car. Well, this whole situation could be much much worse, and it is, in New Orleans, where we used to live. Blessings to be counted, but there's anxiety, anyway.

083121b

Things I forgot 1. The single malt was in my soft case 2. Righty loosy on these Vegan bolts 3. Checking my suit before I put it on 4. How much the equipment tech hated me Things I remember 1. The sweet taste of his wife 2. The poker winnings in my locker 3. My last good breath

083121

driving to Louisiana gas stations closed

083021c

A tower falls A million homes go dark The street rushes the carpet Flops to table And off, charming books Off the bottom shelves To burrow into silt; a city Holds its breath

083021b

refugees 7 furred kids some with big voices Hurricane Ida

083021

NOLA goes dark and Red Stick too heat and humidity keep on giving

082921c

her rainswept cloak grateful to receive only a passing glance

082921b

Have you ever wondered whether there's a religion out there whose tenets fit your beliefs? Here's a quick and fun way to get some clues. https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/quizzes/beliefomatic.aspx

082921

Ida as Gaea's Enforcer such a nice delta be a shame if anything happened to it

082821b

Incarnatubes skydiving without a chute swimming with sharks on-the-trapeze training you wake up in a tube easy-peasy Carrington event the meekk inherit

082821

daughter blows in with cats, dos, and husband home waters rise

082721b

from the south I sense a great disturbance Ida ho!

082721

Remembering "The Wheel on the School," by Meindert DeJong There was a young stork on a wheel To some this might seem a sweet deal As I spin around My head hits the ground Complained that sore stork on the wheel

082621b

knocking on this wooden desk still home, still good a twinge is not my heart it's just some other thing

082621

shouting to be heard over lovesick cicadas late summer

082521c

For the Love of Vegetables #16 All eight wheels aflyin' Tuber by my side Ain't my time for cryin' Tho you've tossed me aside. Kisses like an artichoke Flowers like the sun Hard and knobby, I'm so stoked I am her only one.

082521b

putting money down for a trip we can't take pandemic fever

082521

scratching Her itch a thousand thousand tiny lovers

082421

grumpy guy is off the Meals on Wheels list he wasn't so bad

082321c

The power chair is fixed, oh frabjous day! Apparently all the motors & the wheels were replaced. and, the ride's different. The engine growls in a deeper tone, and 8th gear requires a very light touch inside this house. Eager to find out what it does outside when I floor it in 10th. For the first time in a week I can go anywhere I want, except. My poor old dog is flopped down by the door, waiting for mommy to return from the supermarket. If I make her get up I'll feel so guilty.... I just can't do it. Today was the day. We also got a new dishwaasher & repairs were made to my hi-tech bed. The one that sounds like a jet engine. It blows hot air up through a bed of silicone beads the size of very fine sand grains (finer than beach sand--they fly everywhere if given the chance). Meanwhile, climate change brought the hammer down on central Tennessee. I never thought that would be a place for deadly flash floods, but when you get 17 inches of rain in one day, well, times are changing. Lots of folks there lost so much, if you have some spare $, that's a good place to send it.

082321b

Add minutes to your life by eating healthy! eschew processed meat and have unprotected sex even steven?

082321

Wheelchair of Cthulhu

In each person a spinal cord resides
And in strange eons even Death may ride

082221d

Dreams and Nightmares 119 is complete and the proofs are with the contributors Dreams and Nightmares 119 September 2021 CONTENTS Morgan Kopaska-Merkel, Cover Robert Frazier, Galileo’s Voyage to the Moon Jennifer Crow, A Disclaimer from the Continuum Line Deborah Davitt, The Futures Lost Between Us Bob Borski, Fulgurite Quiz Sandra Lindow, What the Weed Whip Wanted Rich Magahiz, “shedding photons” Anna Cates, End of Days Jane Yolen, Bear Man Three Ways M. C. Childs, Three Monopoly Multiverse Cards Federica Santini, Personal Knossos Denny Marshall, A Cloud Follows You Gerri Leen, What of Me, Goose Girl John Thomas Allen, Visiting Hours Laurel Winter, The Werewolf Raises Sheep Laurel Winter, the tree’s secrets Denny Marshall, Bell Pods Miguel O. Mitchell, A Descendant’s Gift F. J. Bergmann, Venery Deborah Davitt, Days of Wine and Petrichor Rich Magahiz, Parable of the Glove Lawrence Harding, The Translation of Moebius Q. Peabody

082221c

Translation Broad daylight well, it might've been a little hazy Main St. or near it stepping out of one of those funky shops Morris flash of light plastic-bagged shirt on the sidewalk soon carried off by someone living alone retired no civic groups, no church never missed till the rent came due he's on a higher plane or lower or alien craft I guess

082221b

Smacktivities When your brother won't stop picking boredom reaches a brand-new low you've lost your voice and boiled away your cool there's nowhere left to go and you don't know what to do Good news! google it, you'll find the cure for all your troubles relief from all the stress no need for that revolver what the good lord gave is best *SMACK!*

082221

red days in moss forgotten, the newt paces under ice

082121c

Poetry and fiction books by David C. Kopaska Merkel 1. underfoot, the runaway spoon press, ISBN 0-926935-60-7, poetry, 1991 2. a round white hole, dbqp press, poetry, 1993 3. The Conspiracy Unmasked, Dark Regions Press, poetry, 1994 4. hunger, Preternatural Press, poetry, 1996 5. Results of a preliminary investigation of the electrochemical properties of some organic matrices , Eraserhead Press, poetry, 1999 6. Y2K survival kit, smoldering banyan press, poetry, 1999 7. The Ruined City, gnarled totem press, poetry, 2003 8. Shoggoths, Sam's Dot publishing, poetry, 2003 9. The Deadbolt Casebook, Sam's Dot publishing, fiction, 2004 10. the egg show, speakeasy press, ISBN 0-9762962-0-9 ($40, entirely handmade including the paper), poetry, 2005 http://www.speakeasypress.com/folded/foldedeggshow.html 11. I don't know what you're having, Sam's Dot, poetry, 2005 12. Separate Destinations (with Kendall Evans), D66 Press, ISBN 1-892958-02-3, poetry, 2005* 13. Hasp Deadbolt, Private Eye, Sam's Dot, fiction, 2007 14. Drowning Atlantis, spechouseofpoetry.com, flash fiction, 2007 15. The memory of persistence, Naked Snake Press, poetry, 2007 16. Nursery Rhyme Noir, Sam's Dot, 978-09821068-3-9, fiction (incorporates 9 and 13), 2008, Amazon 17. Night Ship to Never (with Kendall Evans), diminuendo press, 978-0-9821352-3-5, poetry, 2009, Amazon 18. The Simian Transcript, Banana Oil books, flash fiction, 2010, Amazon 19. Brushfires, Sam's Dot, poetry, 2010 20. The Tin Men (with Kendall Evans), Sam's Dot, poetry, 2011 21. The Edible Zoo, Sam's Dot, children's poetry, 2012 22. On the Brink of Never (ed.), Sam’s Dot, ISBN 978-0-984692-04-0, poetry, 2012 23. Luminous Worlds, Dark Regions Press, ISBN 978-1-937128-92-0, poetry, 2013, Amazon 24. SETI Hits Paydirt, Popcorn Press, poetry, 2014, Amazon 25. Gods and Monsters, Popcorn Press, flash fiction, 2015, ISBN 9781519729446, Amazon 26. Metastable Systems, diminuendo press, poetry, 2017, ISBN-13: 978-1-936021-57-4*, Smashwords 27. Entanglement (with Kendall Evans), diminuendo press, poetry, 2018, ISBN 13: 978-1-936021-56-7* 28. The Ambassador Takes One For the Team, diminuendo press, poetry, 2019, ISBN 978-1-936021-63-5*, Amazon 29. Some Disassembly Required, coming soon from diminuendo press, poetry *Available from the author (1300 Kicker, Tuscaloosa AL 35404, jopnquog @ gmail dot com). If no source is given for a book, the book is out of print. Some of these may be available used.

082121b

grackles reply as I open the car door chorus of hinges

082121

Blood Wedding you may kiss the bride and you, the groom be sure to take no more than you give may your nights be fruitful without end

082021b

One day the cat didn't come back scarred aloof waiting by the step for dinner bringing us live chipmunks baby bunnies sparrows so we could learn to hunt we would've starved if we were cats he just rolled his eyes roamed the hood never backed down went to the vet (didn't like it) ate dinner back out on the street every night but one time he didn't come back lt's been two months I'm still waiting

082021

In the Second Year of the Plague IV bruises vanish memories of shapely nurses fade I don't think 911 at every twinge count of days, lost with every full ICU bed I fear no longer for myself any unvaxxed gunshot car wreck snake bite victim Covid death sentence children silent classrooms Governor gets another shot

081821c

Back to photographing tiny bits of a fossil microbial reef in NE Alabama. This is sort of an invisible-man puzzle. The white-over-light-gray area in the middle was once a fossil that later dissolved away. We know that because of all the little critters that grew on it (two white arrows on the left). The light-gray material labeled "S" is extremely fine lime sediment that partially filled the open space that formed when the mystery fossil dissolved. The white area, "C," is filled with calcite cement crystals. They precipitated from groundwater, and they formed last. Thin-section photomicrograph, 1 millimeter in long dimension. Mississippian age.

081821b

what to do when the VPN drops the ball self-referential verse

081821

gunshy everytime I need more breath my heart jumps

081521

It greatly displeases me when an editor jumps all over a submittor. It doesn't matter what the reason is; this is never justified. I won't be submittig to that person again. And I don't believe I've ever done that to anyone. Dreams and Nightmares 119 is mostly laid out, with all kinds of exciting poetry inside. I should be able to finish that this weekend. And respond to most submissions for the subsequent issue.

081321b

joy in cleaning is stumbling on forgotten trips box of photos

081321

13th day hospital free lucky Friday

081221d

waiting room on it rpoo subjected to a 60s sitcom

081221c

time crystals violate time slow glass

081221b

Perseverance crosses alluvial fan lake bed holds its breath

081221

daughter visiting to help us de-hoard forthcoming move

081021

the company that provides my helpers has one nurse who is conscientious, sually available, and dedicated. when she is no longer available, I don't think they will have anybody else. as far as caregivers are concerned, they can't always provide them. they don't have enough because they don't pay enough and don't offer benefits. also, there is competition from other companies and then there is the pandemic. all this explains why I am still lying in bed almost 2 hours after I was supposed to get up.

080921b

I had heart trouble and our credit score dropped if I had died...

080921

The International Ichnofabric Workshop 16A, a virtual workshop, has been rescheduled for November 13-14, which is a weekend. The abstract and registration deadline is now September 30. This will allow more time for people to prepare abstracts in what has been a very difficult year. The registration fee is $40. The website will be live in about a week, and will include information about how to register and how to submit abstracts. Those who have already submitted abstracts will not need to resubmit them.

080721c

Sale to Eyr To The Telescope (I think); poem submitted to Star*line. My other recent poems are all here. Working at work about new discovery of "large" microbial colonies in N. Alabama. Almost ready to start writing that. Also time to put DExt DN together.Keeping busy.

080721b

the haze of sky flashlight moon does its dim best

080721

8 days hospital-free. Starry Day Who knew the late-blooming clematis, gift from a "friend," would grow so fast? Rivaling kudzu in its voracious consumption of land, it blankets yard and garden with abandon. The mock orange bush: where is it? The wheelchair ramp, green fingers unfurl between every pair of boards; the nlackberry est morte, the foermer shrub, kaput, but come September: such lovely pentaradial stars blaze from every side

080621b

the wind whispers in a fog of fine sand Ingenuity braves headwinds

080621

Wound Dr. today. Always stressful. This is when I find out whether I'm still making progress or backsliding. Generally I see him every 2 weeks.

080521b

rain every day while I was in hospital garden of weeds

080521

Finally the last contributor copies of 118 are going in the mail. I've already started laying out 119 (Sept.) & am reading for 120 (Jan.). Wrote a couple of sea-related poems & submitted them to Eye To The Telescope. Not much else written. 6 days of good health & counting. The best I've done in about a month.

080421

five days of good health what shall I accomplish today?

080321b

missing small black cat, scarred hind leg gone for months now

080321

autumnal week the hot blanket of summer baking in the wings

080221b

3 days staying out of the hospital feelin good

080221

giant undersea dunes beneath Louisiana T. rex's tombstone