Exterminating Angel Press

Creative Solutions for Practical Idealists.

Winter 2019: Triggers.

Moon.

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by Chris Farago.

Moon, I painted you twenty times last week,
Praising your inconstancy with my brush and my oils.
You are not like that liar Sun,
Who wears the same face daily,
Hiding behind her heat.

Your silent aria inhabits me with a touch, Moon,
That melody opening my veins,
Showing my eyes how to close,
To stay closed through the rain,
To sleep through the apocalypse.

Moon, I photographed you, too,
Teaching myself how to adjust your light
(For it is always your light, no matter what
Those dread stars report).
Rather, I adjust to your light, Moon,
Learning how to see myself in you,
To see others filtered through your pale cast.

O Moon, I know you leave and come back,
Or I leave and come back,
And that your orbit is nothing but
An inveterate wobble. But, please, Moon,
Hear my plea: you will stay and I will stay
On the same slow, rambunctious track,
If only for a few slim hours
As we trace the savannah together.

The Great Maestro Takes on Gage.

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by Jim Meirose. So. You want to learn. To play. Piano Play. Learn to. Play. Piano play no. Learn. To play piano play. No. Learn to play. Play what? Piano play. No. But. Learn to play piano for people play for.  No. Learn to. No. Learn to play. Play what? No just play. Wrong answer. […]

Door.

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by Marissa Bell Toffoli. On the other side, the streets are cobblestone. The walls of the town are blue and white. Everywhere the eye finds royal, electric, cobalt, aqua, periwinkle, turquoise, sapphire, midnight, baby, ice, and sky. Which way is up? There’s a weight to the air. Like walking through a Picasso. Outside, someone waits. […]

Rebel, Rebel.

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by Tod Davies. 1. I used to have this nightmare. Four walls in the commissary—the walls would start closing in on me. Shoutingfrom the Wall Ads™, much louder than the nice noises they make in real life. The door out, both the doors out, just gone. And I can’t breathe. I’d wake up in the […]

Triggers.

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by Benjamin White. Triggers.                                     All the senses are triggers, Recalling the pastTo let emotions resurfaceAnd subsist on thoughts, And the consciousness Of nostalgic possibilities Lost and goneSinking in the depthsOf time trying to – Wanting to – Enrich the experiencesThat experienced enrichment – Embraced,Even as they drown. Without memoryThere can be no love, So […]

Trigger-Unhappy.

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by David D. Horowitz. “You’re so judgmental,” the young woman vented into her cell phone to a male voice I barely heard, as she handed me my spinach fettuccini, neatly packed in a small recyclable plastic container. She took my credit card, processed the $6 payment, and handed the card back to me. “Yes, you […]

The Eye of the Storm.

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by Rose Jermusyk. A storm did rage upon the earth, it could not calm its winds. It wondered, wandering near and far, how it might find some peace. It spied a traveler further on, arriving with each step. It followed after for a time before it queried forth: “Be still, be still, and hear my […]

The Dictator Confronted by the Magus.

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by Ron Singer. “How the hell did you get in here?” The Dictator groped for the buzzer beneath his desk, almost pressing the red nuclear button, instead.             “”Don’t bother,’ said the intruder, a tall man dressed in the gray hooded robe of a Dominican friar. ”It isn’t working. Besides, I’m not here to harm […]

Second Thoughts.

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by Charles Holdefer. When the doorbell rang, Wayne stopped buffing and polishing and went to answer. “Oh, it’s you.” “I believe you know why I’m here.” “Are you sure it’s necessary?” “Honey, who is it?” Courtney called from the kitchen. Wayne yelled over his shoulder. “It’s Nancy Pelosi. She’s come to take our guns.” He […]

Mousetraps.

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by Bruce Thompson. My friend and mentor R. B. Angell—Brad to those of us who knew him—always kept a mousetrap beside his computer. It was primed and ready to snap at any moment. “Do you have a problem with mice?” I asked him on one of my visits to his house. “No,” he replied, a […]