Malik Selle
Malik Selle is a California-based writer. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston, MA, he earned his B.A. in literary studies. His fiction and poetry have appeared in Stoneboat Literary Journal, Beyond Words Magazine, High Shelf Press, and The West Trade Review. He currently lives in Los Angeles, not far from the La Brea Tar Pits.
The following work is Copyright © 2022, and owned by Malik Selle and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.
The Desert or The Bay
I came all the way from
Red Hamlet, California
an exile built from principled sin, the
machinations of an adult bookstore or
tourist court day rate
in line with the filth found behind
the local dive. Quicksand of the mind:
a young addict makes cold, painful
love with the cactus she mistook for
Jesus full of Pepsi
from there, I went north upstate, hoping
to make a Barbary Coast of your thigh
before I remembered that I forgot
we met in college, out east.
Not in the desert nor my hometown
where legs dangling off the Golden Gate
I read John Updike, neglected economy
and civics, never bothered the prom queen
So when you left I saw the habit,
how indecision still breaks my neck
Don Bellinger
Don Bellinger was born and currently lives in Walla Walla WA, which is the wine capital of Eastern Washington. Where everyone is always talking about their latest Cab. And we’re not talking Cab Calloway! About its heady nose, earthy body, and fetching bottom! Well, we seem to be getting off on a tangent. Don writes poetry and short stories or perhaps short stories and poetry. He is the author of The Instrumentality of Communication: Poems and Other Oddities.
The following work is Copyright © 2022, and owned by Don Bellinger and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.
Morning Loomed
morning loomed
But it seemed a little hunch-backed
and approached with an unsteady gait
Singing an off-color, off-tempo ditty
that was almost recognizable
As the sun doffed its slouch hat,
the day staggered upon the stage
seemingly weighed down, burdened
with too many troublesome
philosophical uncertainties, and trivial
questions involving moral absolutes
But everyone was tumbling out of bed
Cats were up and expecting social niceties
Ready or not the Cosmos was up
And about, expecting a small gratuity
And a full-throated, “Thank you.”
