John McKernan

I sometimes go to sleep
With a white umbrella
Suspended above me
Its black spotlight
Of shadows blanketing
What must be called
My Body    Who needs a home?
What cries for a roof?    Who
Believes in Mud?     In Dust?
I believe in fear      I
Own a prayer tucked under me
Like a folding clock     In
Side my sleep suit of time
In the confetti of dreams 
I sport the blue Earth
For a button and wear the
Sun as a wristwatch of light

John McKernan

grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and is now a retired comma herder living in Florida. He taught for 41 years at Marshall University. His most recent book is Resurrection of the Dust, a collection of poems. He has published poetry in The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Journal, Antioch Review, Guernica, Field, and others.

ART: The Candle’s Final Whisper byBill Wolak

BILL WOLAK is a poet, collage artist and photographer, and has just published his eighteenth book of poetry, All the Wind’s Unfinished Kisses with Ekstasis Editions. His collages and photographs have appeared as cover art for phoebe, Harbinger Asylum, Baldhip Magazine, Barfly Poetry Magazine, Ragazine, Cardinal Sins, Pithead Chapel, The Wire’s Dream, Thirteen Ways Magazine, Phantom Kangaroo, Rathalla Review, Free Lit Magazine, The Magnolia Review, Typehouse Magazine, The Round, and Flare Magazine.