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Klimenko, Chatterjee and Vongsaravanh

Interrogation of the Moon

by ANTONIA ALEXANDRA KLIMENKO

 

Where’ve you been?
Where’re you going?
What are you doing?
Who with?
How long?
What for?

He prunes back your favorite rosebush–
now a miniature bonsai`
This should have been your first clue

He plows through you like pulp fiction–
the next chapter is Poland
This should have been your first clue

He cross-examines your dreams–
some of them escape with only third-degree burns
This should have been your first clue

Later
he will probe holes in your stories
(the size of craters)
They all end badly

He will ask impossible questions
“And what have you done with the stars?”
for which you ponder improbable replies
“I had them for breakfast
when my back was turned?”

He will remind you
he is there to remind you
your only safe alibi is death

The first clue is
there is no second clue

 

I tell him:
a quick strip-search of this poem
and you will find nothing
Even as I speak
I am eating my own words

 

One by one…
in reverse order–
the rose petals
the stars
the breadcrumbs in the forest
One by one
they explode on my tongue
they dissolve into the darkness
that stumbles into night

Even as I speak
I am erasing every trace
every feature of my landscape
I am changing my name to Daisy
and I am moving to another town

It’s useless to question the moon…
better you interrogate the sun

 

Antonia Alexandra Klimenko was first introduced on the BBC and to the literary world by the legendary Tambimuttu of Poetry London–-publisher of T.S. Eliot, Henry Miller and Bob Dylan, to name a few. Although her manuscript was orphaned upon his passing, her poems and correspondence have been included in his Special Collections at Northwestern University.  A former San Francisco Poetry Slam Champion, she has read and performed at various venues such as the renowned Purple Onion and The Intersection—the oldest alternative art space in the City by the Bay; her one-woman show Where the Blue Begins was presented in conjunction with Sonoma’s perorming art series Women on the Edge. Klimenko’s work has appeared in Van Gogh’s Ear, Howl: San Francisco Poetry News, The Bastille, Paris Lit Up, Strangers in Paris—New Writing Inspired by the City of Light, Maintenant 7: Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art archived in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and is forthcoming in the anthology Last Clean Dirty Shirt.  She lives in Pars.

 

 

the truth is

by KANCHAN CHATTERJEE

first you
then sun moon and
numerous other things . . .

the truth keeps on
slipping . . .

 

Kanchan Chatterjee works in the ministry of finance, government of India. His poems have appeared in various online and print journals, namely, Eclectic Eel, Mad Swirl, Shot Glass Journal, Jellyfish Whisperer, Bare Hands Poetry, Decanto, etc. He was a nominee for the 2012 Pushcart Prize (U.K).

 

 

Pour Homme

by ELIZABETH VONGSARAVANH
Describe.
The stillness …
The coolish morning in the winter
smells like spring but
it’s not quite here yet.

I dissolve into latte, and
don’t wish to look back
under the night-sheets where
under raw flesh remains
the invisible woman.

Lavender breath, vanilla skin
marinated in Irish cream
and … nuts.

Sometimes, I want to be a motorcycle –
polished and loved,
fixed and reassembled
down to the last screw … but

I’m

only

a woman.

 

Elizabeth Vongsaravanh is a native of Hungary and holds a Graduate Degree in English Literature. She is a mother, poet, artist, mixologist and entrepreneur. Experimental and observant, her visionary mixed media art and poetry captures the various aspects of human nature and life. “My work is an expression of emotions that can only be made visible by art, that can’t always surface in words and actions because they reside in the depths of being. Whenever there is something ugly in life, I want to capture the beauty hidden within the difficulty.” Some of her poetic works were included in the 2013 edition of the poetry anthology Imprint, which is published in Hong Kong. Elizabeth can be found at her art house/cocktail bar in Luang Prabang, Laos, mixing drinks for wandering spirits and loyal patrons alike.

 

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