PUSSY RIOT

by Peleg Held






Run your needles through, Maria.

Open the holes in the uniform of State Security.

Blessed be the easel of your frame, the canvas 

of your skin exposed to pigments of vulgarity.

The taste of power changes slowly in its madness.

Stalin still shows little care for poetry 

that bares its teeth to dominance.

Clean shaven, five blades deep,

his finger grubs grow thin and learn dexterity

from an acquiescent smile upturned in ritual purity.

Nadezdha, in the place of Joseph,

do you dream of hope and fury

while the catcalls waller on?

Hooligans. You shame them all


Peleg Held lives in Portland, Maine with his partner and his dog Emitt. There is also the semi-feral cat, Smudge. And a kid or two. He writes poetry, does woodworking and lately, dreams of the summer.

THE YEAR IN REVIEW IN PICTURES: AN ABRIDGED SECTION

by Alan Catlin

2012 Collage by Laura Serra

“Every war is ironic because every war is worse
than expected.” Paul Fussell 1924-2012


American sailors with captured Somali pirates
Thousands of people return home after ten years of war, Darfur
Frozen child, refugee camp, Afghanistan
Man on fire running, New Delhi
Nik Wallenda highwire walking over Niagara Falls Gorge
Kim Jong reviewing the troops, May Day, North Korea
Human skull and bones mass grave, Mazar I Sharif, Afghanistan
Pussy Riot in Moscow Courtroom cage
Wendy Maritza Rodriquez after seeing the corpse of a relative
Forty six new graves cut in a field, Krymsk, Russia
Statue of Blessed Virgin Mary after the fire, Breezy Point, Queens
Aerial View of Manhattan showing blackout of the city after Sandy
Israeli family braced for incoming rockets near Ashdod
Palestine residents clearing debris, Gaza City, the next day
Night in Syria after airstrike in Aleppo
26 killed, 20 children, 6 adults, Newtown, Connecticut elementary
            school massacre (not shown)


Alan Catlin has published numerous chapbooks and full-length books of poetry and prose, the latest of which, from Pygmy Forest Press, is Alien Nation.