Lift, F. Westergard

Lift
by Fred Westergard

Find a thought that draws a smile
Find a picture of yourself
When you were confident
When you found the world
Why did you believe?
That power is still there
Inside you
Find it
And hold it
Don't fart
Ignore what your butt tells you
Now go

Remember, K. Dery

Remember
by Kate Dery

Memories that last for decades, the ones we don't even know why we remember. Maybe from early childhood or during a terrible crisis. A stumbling adolescence or pride pinnacle. Finding an old photograph. Those memories take us places we can't explain. They are undefined. Those memories are heaven and hell.

Try, G.Jacobs

Try
by Gabe Jacobs

Ignore your dreams
And lose your soul
Never feel
Then keep sleeping
Stand up
Or drown
Fall down
Then keep crawling

Go Sox, E.N. England

Go Sox!

By Everyone in New England

Go Sox!
Yay! Yes.
We won!
We are number one!
Pedy! Papi! We did it!
We are the best!
Boston Strong!
3 Series in 10 year! 8 championships in Boston since '02!
We are the best!
You don't like it? Shut up!
Go Sox!

Treat, K. Lester

Treat

By Keith Lester

My doorbell keeps ringing
I'm almost out of candy
I bought extra because I wanted to eat some myself
But these damn kids keep showing up
Forget them
I'm done answering my door
I don't like their costumes anyway
Wearing your hockey uniform is not a costume
And if you don't believe in Santa, you are too old for this
I can celebrate too
By turning off my lights and hiding in the basement
I'm tearing into a peanut butter cup
So good

History-or-Treat, R. Standley

History-or-Treat

By Ryan Standley


Trick-or-treating in America originates with the Fantastics, a bunch of dirt-poor, drunken, cross-dressing hooligans who paraded behind the last of the retreating British troops after the Revolutionary War. Their parading continued annually on Thanksgiving.

The Fantastics strutted through towns all over the east coast, begged at wealthy homes and businesses, harassed women and shouted political propaganda.

Bringing up the rear of a Fantastics’ parade, were a group of children known as Ragamuffins. Ragamuffins dressed in costumes, carried baskets, begged from door to door, assaulted the property of those less giving.

Soon city officials feared the youth were being corrupted. Trick-or-treating was displaced to Halloween, so group leaders could accentuate the religious, puritan folklore of Thanksgiving. Child welfare committees formed rival clubs, offered alternative parades, and promoted a new Thanksgiving custom… football. By 1910 the Fantastics movement lost popularity and disappeared, while one Ragamuffin tradition holds strong.

Deck, G.Roush

Deck

By Georgina Roush

My husband takes weeks to fix the porch
He removes one board at a time
It's dangerous walking down of course
And the mailman doesn't speak kind
But he drills and hammers and screws the porch
And he saws and he paints and he primes
It's nice that he cares to keep up the porch
But I think he should focus on me of course
Because he is the muse of mine

Balloon, M. Kreas

Balloon

By Melvin Kreas

last weekend, a beautiful late summer day, I was outside just tooling around in the yard with my toddler son. my son rushed over to me suddenly laughing and carrying a bouquet of helium balloons. "Where did these come from?" I asked. my son just grinned and punched the balloons. there were three balloons. they were blue and black and one said Happy 60th Birthday. the other two said Happy 30th. I laughed along with my son. these balloons had escaped some birthday party. maybe from miles away. but they decided to find us here. I couldn't just throw them in the garbage. I cut their ribbons off and they were light enough to fly high again. and they disappeared over the horizon. maybe returning home to their party. "Bye Bye!" my son waved at the balloons.

Busy Heavens, P. Louten

Busy Heavens

By Paul Louten

A fly buzzes by my ear
The screen is broken
What is he flying around
Looking for food?
For a way out?
He's so busy
And loud
If his wings bother my ears
He must be completely deaf
But he keeps buzzing
He's so busy

The Rabbit, T. Gordon

The Rabbit

By Tina Gordon

There is a little old porcelain statue of a white rabbit that sits on my windowsill and stares at me when I am trying to write. "What are you looking at, bunny?" I ask. And the rabbit says,"You! It's you I'm looking at, you numbskull! Why don't you turn me around so I can look out the window instead of staring at your dumb ass?" I laugh and say, "Sucks to be a statue, huh?" And then I go back to my writing in triumph,"Ha, ha! I am in control of something!"

Sunset, H. Nand

Sunset

By Henry Nand

With August breeze I feel a sense of change that's coming through,
The warm hot days are closing and there's nothing we can do.
Hit the beach one more time,
Take the sun in while you can.
Cause pretty soon the leaves will fall,
And you will lose your tan.
You've worked on it all summer but don't worry, winter's short.
Pretty soon the snow will melt, baseball will be the sport.
And then we open up into the heat just like before.
The season change. The simple things,
Are what I do adore.

Oh Please, B.Rotten

Oh Please

by Big Rotten

Give me a break
You call this a blog?
This is all a bunch of crap
That's right you heard me, crap.
And you call this a poem?
I sure don't.
This is crap too.
It's all crap.
That's all it is.
Seriously.

Endless Summer, B. Keset

Endless Summer

By Bradley Keset

There are only so many days of summer
That's good
There are 365 days in the year
And if they were all summer there would be too much tourism
People would keep asking me to by stuff when I walked by their storefronts
Price tags would not exist
Seedless watermelon would not exist
We'd make stuff but the big money would go elsewhere
Summer isn't forever
Instead we prosper

Blurred Lines, M.Nance

Blurred Lines

By Michelle Nance

Have you seen the video for this record? My goodness! Bunch of girls walking around naked and flopping their boobs around. It's ridiculous, sexist, softly pornographic. But damn that is a catchy tune. Hit replay, please. Thanks.

Summertime, G. Greg

Summertime

by Garrett Greg

Ice cream
Thunderstorms
Lightning bugs
Sweat
Cold Beer
County Fair
Swimming
No Regret

Thank You!

Wow!

Word Slaw has reached over 10,000 viewers!

What a milestone! Thanks.

Watch for our next issue, due on July 31st.

Peace, h.fellows

Peace
By h. fellows

Rejoice, for peace is here.
She may hide for just a moment and all hell reigns down.
But then she pops her head back, like, Whoa, what did I miss?
Hey guys, I'm back now.
Don't worry.
But peace can't always stick around a hundred percent.
She tries so hard to be there.
We take her for granted
And miss her when she is gone.

Bah Humbug, D.Geoff

Bah Humbug
By Devin Geoff

Who would have known we'd be using Google? Made up words like internet and twitter, facebook and pintrest. These are ideas that have become addictions. Thoughts that have inspired countless other meaningless ones. Listen! These are make-believe words because they are make-believe worlds. The internet does not exist! Light in a box is as real as the words of a novel, rarely printed on a page now, but just glowing like a dying ember. When will people wake up? Shun the internet. It's not real!

I'm a Vine, G.Miller

I'm a Vine
By Greg Miller

A vine will grow across rubble.
It will grow over stone, around corners
Through walls.
It will invade flowers,
Overtake an entire meadow.
It climbs high and defies gravity,
It cascades down with leaves
Aimlessly searching.
Never giving in,
Never satisfied.

Fuss, M.Nives

Fuss

By Michelle Nives

Slobber
Coughing
Runny nose
All the symptoms mother knows
Wipe your face
And touch your toes
Eat your veggies
Rips and sews
Surviving
Loving
Baby grows

In the Cold Morning, B.Jacobs

In the Cold Morning

By Brian Jacobs

March is an fickle tease.
Bipolar, really.
One day is warm as August, the next is cold as January.
But even Mother Nature needs transition.
And a month is not so long.
It may be cold in the morning but the sun is bright at the dinner table.
The only certain evidence that spring lingers.

Watch, K.Rivers

Watch

by Kelly Rivers

Follow the legs bead down the glass
Snow accumulates on the street
Television strobes the ceiling
While the baby sleeps
And the sun sets

[Excerpt]

D-Penny, G. Float

D-Penny (excerpt)

by G. Float

G-Float coming up to rich
Girls scoping out the sitch
Gonna pop a snitch
If he sniffin in my bizz-niss
So can I can I can I can I can I get a witness
24 hours making money like a sickness

Sick Puppies, J. Schroeder

Sick Puppies
by Janet Schroeder

There are vial little monsters roaming the narrow halls of that ghost town dump. The good jobs crossed the border so the modern citizens are degenerate leftovers, poor uneducated shells of their close ancestors. They wear t-shirts for every occasion and utter profane, limited vocabulary in sentence fragments. So sad to admit these earthlings are the countrymen of one nation. The television must go, as should most internet connections, before a healing can begin.

Untold Riches, R.Garner

Untold Riches
by Rob Garner

Where are these untold riches I was told of as a young
man of thirteen years, the story came off of the tongue
of a man who was so old he had quit counting all the years
that flew right by his eyes faster than bullets bringing tears.
I searched for that damn treasure till my knees and eyes were red.
I must have forgot something that he said.

In the Winter There is Time, J.Hopkins

In the Winter There is Time

By Jeff Hopkins

Where am I supposed to go in this never ending blizzard of frozen rain?
It piles up on the walks, the swingset, my car will remain here for days
People just aren't meant to move through this mess
The salt, snowblower diesel, scraping plows and whistling heaters
Just leave me alone, why can't I hibernate?
So there is this thing called the Internet
It works even in the cold. So I grab some coffee and write, and write
The power won't go out, the storm wasn't that terrible
And I have all the time I need for email and being social checking photos
In my bathrobe
Oh, wait that's not what I meant, really, but the Internet does well there too.
But I'm just writing, really I am. Decent stuff too. Good decent stuff.
Oh God, get me out of this house
Melt you damn snow, melt!

Flow, R. Gathers

Flow

by Reggie Gathers

The grass has puddled
Even it's had enough
Go search for a new home
Water is boss
It'll know where to go
Seeping into wherever it wants
Nowhere is safe
Life or death

Triumphant Return

Happy 2013!
Word Slaw is back with more songs, poems, stories and stuff.
Thanks for visiting! Write on!