The Wailing Seal.

A coalition of writers from the New York area.

I wanted to punch her right in the mouth and that’s the truth.

After all, we had gotten from the station of the flickering glances
to the station of the hungry mouths,
from the shoreline of skirts and faded jeans
to the ocean of unencumbered skin,
from the perilous mountaintop of the apartment steps
to the sanctified valley of the bed—


the candle fluttering upon the dresser top, its little yellow blade
sending up its whiff of waxy smoke,
and I could smell her readiness
like a dank cloud above a field,

when at the crucial moment, the all-important moment,
the moment standing at attention,

she held her milk white hand agitatedly
over the entrance to her body and said No,

and my brain burst into flame.

If I couldn’t sink myself in her like a dark spur
or dissolve into her like a clod thrown in a river,

can I go all the way in the saying, and say
I wanted to punch her right in the face?
Am I allowed to say that,
that I wanted to punch her right in her soft face?

Or is the saying just another instance of rapaciousness,
just another way of doing what I wanted then,
by saying it?

Is a man just an animal, and is a woman not an animal?
Is the name of the animal power?
Is it true that the man wishes to see the woman
hurt with her own pleasure

and the woman wishes to see the expression on the man’s face
of someone falling from great height,
that the woman thrills with the power of her weakness
and the man is astonished by the weakness of his power?

Is the sexual chase a hunt where the animal inside
drags the human down
into a jungle made of vowels,
hormonal undergrowth of sweat and hair,

or is this an obsolte idea
lodged like a fossil
in the brain of the ape
who lives inside the man?

Can the fossile be surgically removed
or dissolved, or redesigned
so the man can be a human being, like a woman?

Does the woman see the man as a house
where she might live in safety,
and does the man see the woman as a door
through which he might escape
the hated prison of himself,

and when the door is locked,
does he hate the door instead?
Does he learn to hate all doors?

I’ve seen rain turn into snow then back to rain,
and I’ve seen making love turn into fucking
then back to making love,
and no one covered up their faces out of shame,
no one rose and walked into the lonely maw of night.

But where was there, in fact, to go?
Are some things better left unsaid?
Shall I tell you her name?
Can I say it again,
that I wanted to punch her right in the face?

Until we say the truth, there can be no tenderness.
As long as there is desire, we will not be safe

Adam and Eve by Tony Hoagland

http://buoy.antville.org/stories/355622/

Michael Strianese: Eleven

michaelstrianese:

Our separation transmuted me into a grease fire of passion
Set to cool over two hundred miles
Above a sea of gloomy expectations.
No, lust is the wrong word for a feeling like this,
For fucking you does not steer the ship I’ve set sail on.
Your presence- To hold you- To converse is what I…

3 months ago - 2

Emissions: Thoughts of a Selective Mute

raykwando:

Their beady eyes jerk back and forth between the chalkboard and their notebooks. They scribble away, stuffing as many “facts” as they can into their mimicking heads, in an attempt to make themselves ultimately greater with each notation. They try so hard. They really do.
Who will be the lucky…

(Source: jameskwapisz)

3 months ago - 4

Michael Strianese: Twelve

michaelstrianese:

IF I ever grow tired,
Too tired to drive

Tell me to pull over
To hand you my keys

IF I ever grow lazy,
Too lazy to work

Tell me to shape up
And stop being a bum

IF I ever grow forgetful,
Too forgetful to remember

To water your plants
Or take out the trash

The date of your birthday…

To…

3 months ago - 2

Shakespeare & Company in Paris, France

Shakespeare & Company in Paris, France

(Source: hungryreader, via warpedrati0nale)

POE!

POE!

Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.

Henry Miller (from Henry Miller on Writing)

(Source: scottiehughes)

Hell’s waiting room

mistervegas:

There’s always a mess

just waiting to be picked up

wanting to be cleared

but its all scattered across the table

an army of glass soldiers

dragged through ash and dirt

a fire put out in each of them

and left to rot

Is this hell’s waiting room?

Or just a nightmare

I’ve walked through this graveyard

of cigarettes and lost causes

one too many times

In a place where light doesn’t share

In a place where no one fucking cares

I am here

I am still here

You Are Tired (I Think) - e.e. cummings

moonbrains:

You are tired,

(I think)
Of the always puzzle of living and doing;
And so am I.

Come with me, then,
And we’ll leave it far and far away—
(Only you and I, understand!)

You have played,
(I think)
And broke the toys you were fondest of,
And are a little tired now;
Tired of things that break, and—
Just tired.
So am I.

But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight,
And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart—
Open to me!
For I will show you the places Nobody knows,
And, if you like,
The perfect places of Sleep.

Ah, come with me!
I’ll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon,
That floats forever and a day;
I’ll sing you the jacinth song
Of the probable stars;
I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream,
Until I find the Only Flower,
Which shall keep (I think) your little heart
While the moon comes out of the sea.

(Source: uncertainnoise, via gather-me)

4 months ago - 360

noseinabook:

The Strand Bookstore in New York City.

(via anewenergy)

Get stoked on Good Food!
www.GoodFoodCrew.com
Interview and feature article dropping in the first issue of The Wailing Seal!
#GoodFoodCrew

Get stoked on Good Food!

www.GoodFoodCrew.com

Interview and feature article dropping in the first issue of The Wailing Seal!

#GoodFoodCrew

Plans.

sundayisms:

O! Sail away toward storming seas,

On a ship bold, and 

Magnificent.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Hold warmth of heart dearly,

And the warmth of whiskey 

Even more so.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Bask in each soothing, sound, sip,

Always remembering to remind yourself, not

Of love kept, nor love lost.

Read More

“Read” Bookshelves!

“Read” Bookshelves!

(Source: typeverything)