Exterminating Angel Press

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EAP: The Magazine Archive

Ocean Diplomacy.

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by Benjamin White.

The national news will report
On US-China relations
And both nations are tainted
Painted by politics and policies,
But on the high seas
Ships sail to places distant,
And freedom
Is consistent with the waves,
The sea gulls, and the hulls
Of boats making way,
And even when the Coast Guard flag
Is on display and crews
Are enforcing the fisheries regulations
There are still the sensations of liberty
And independence,
So, when the boarding team got caught
By bad weather and had to stay
Onboard the Chinese fish processor
Over night
There was no debate, hesitation,
Fight, or impending doom –
The Chinese simply made room
And were gracious hosts,
And the next day
The American Coast Guard Captain
Sent over a case of M&Ms
Thanking them
For their hospitality –

Sailors go to sea
And understand
A special brand
Of diplomacy.

 

The Sea is a Bride – Triolet.

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by Barry Vitcov.   I found the sea waiting for me, an old lover calling from the tide with the rhythmic roar of tympani. I found the sea waiting for me, the roll upon roll of the heavy sea lifting spirits like a waiting bride. I found the sea waiting for me, an old lover […]

In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing.

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by Sean Murphy. We’re going to discover some things. For starters: who was paying attention to the long-suffering flight attendant when she went through the motions of how to go through the motions of dying? We’ll see who screams first, who covers their eyes, and who gives two shits about the well-being of anyone but […]

Garden Meditations.

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by Yahia Lababidi. For hours in the morning sun I knelt over our plants, like a prayer carpet Devoted to weeding our garden I sweat, squint and grunt marveling at the tenacity of living things How stubborn neglected weeds can be clinging for dear life, like bad habits… over time, almost stitched to the earth […]

In Anger.

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by Marissa Bell Toffoli. Blood-orange thoughts I wished weren’t in me escape. Lashing caprices churn the sea around us. My voice goes rough and salty. Grace ceases. Personal debris— gathered, unspoken, unmerciful— rises in the swells, releases when there’s nowhere to flee. Our every deficiency floats on, increases until we find ourselves. Still here. Set […]

Martian Canals.

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by David D. Horowitz.   Earth, at the center of the cosmos, is flat. The universe is approximately 6,000 years old. Phlogiston causes combustion. Women do not deserve the right to vote. Slavery is natural. Canals crisscross Mars. Cats and goats are demonic and evil. The emperor of Rome is a god. Earthquakes and hurricanes […]

The Crystal People.

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by Tom Ball.   I Our people here appeared as crystal see through people. And we lived on pure energy which we got from the sun. We were not humans, but rather a different race altogether. However, most of us thought we had evolved from humans. But we also thought we were superior. We lived […]

Waiting Room.

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by Jim Meirose.   Mister Moon was told to go down the hall of the emergency room and wait in the waiting room—last door to the right. Would Lon be all right? Would Lon be—all right pleaded over and again, but, but, at last—he’d been told not to worry. Just to go wait. Entering the […]

Princess (from “My Life with Dogs”).

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by Tod Davies. It was always foggy at my grandparents’ house. This was in the outer avenues of San Francisco, up a steep hill from Ocean Beach. You could hear the foghorns there. In my memory, it is almost always gray. When the rare sun did come out, there was still the sharp cold of […]

The Ship of Theseus.

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by Bruce E. R. Thompson. According to the legends of ancient Greece, the city of Athens was once in thrall to the Minoan empire, ruled by King Minos of Crete. Every nine years the Athenians were required to pay a tribute to King Minos consisting of seven maidens and seven lads who were to be […]