Pete Howard – US Represented

Physical Abuse: A Silent Tragedy throughout America

a featured contributor — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 08:16:46 +0000

Here’s a story about six young people from not so long ago who lived in a town called Freeport and dealt with physical abuse in various ways. Paul Henry was 12 years-old, a dreamy, quick-footed kid from a large family of all sisters and no father. He was walking home one evening in October from a friend’s house. It was dark already, the trees bare, the streets shiny black from

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Crossing Over

a featured contributor — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 07:50:35 +0000

Under the nervous street light The cat crosses over stealthily Pausing at the edge Of the darker side. One eye flashes And it’s gone Into the margins. Black impregnates black The seed of a dream Behind the slumbering houses. I flutter through empty space A little man with little wings And a mouse’s tail. Suddenly I feel a knife In the back of my neck. I reel, collapse, plummet Drowning

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If the Shoe Fits

a featured contributor — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 06:11:58 +0000

At this late stage If the shoe fits Buy it. For comfort is harder to find And a little jig Can jar the memory To green fields and pop flies And star flecks of first love. Maybe even buy a second pair (the first you might yet outwear) So you won’t lose pace And become trampled In the long procession To that promised playground. But maybe not. Double vision is

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These Teenage Daughters of Divorced Mothers

a featured contributor — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 10:34:33 +0000

See how they walk To and from their breaking homes In this twilit town Where naked oaks Sketch the streets And a swirling of crows Settles in clumps On the high limbs Above the old folks home, Cataracts in its vacant eyes. One girl, collar to the cold Hurries home Under sudden streetlights Ushered now by these shadows That follow, switch forward, fall back… Past, present, future. One, two, three

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Body Art — Is It Really?

a featured contributor — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 07:45:59 +0000

. . . the man was a walking treasure gallery. This wasn’t the work of a cheap carnival tattoo man with three colors and whiskey on his breath. This was the accomplishment of a living genius, vibrant, clear, and beautiful. – Ray Bradbury …the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. – Walt Whitman Imagine that a reputable institute of higher education, let’s call it Edgewood College, is

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Of Tribes, Truth, Nostalgia, and Devolution

a featured contributor — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 07:46:18 +0000

“To love truth for truth’s sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.” Locke “The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.” Machiavelli I am certain that I am not the only writer who is having difficulty summoning the creative muses in today’s politically supercharged climate. Their wings are too small, too

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