Old Loft

Juicy meatloaf, seeded rye,
baroque chairs facing
a vast map of the world,
tall factory windows
overlooking the sculpture court,
echoes from the welders
patching the semicircular
step-outs on every other floor.

The jeans, the paunch,
brunette heads bobbing
to my green hat and scarf,
voice cracking on I-95,
and later the glow,
the aromatic glow of the candles,
lights dancing from the fans,
wavering yesses to haphazard no's.

-Michele F. Cooper

Michele F. Cooper is the first-place winner in Poetry Canada’s Rhymed Poetry Competition and the TallGrass Poetry Competition, second-place winner in the Galway Kinnell Poetry Competition, author of two books and numerous published poems, founding editor of the Newport Review and Crone’s Nest literary magazines, and of a chapbook series, Premier Poets. She recently moved from the edge of a small horse farm (not hers) to Providence, RI.
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A Late Night Visit

A crackle over the monitor spoils the still night air
Nervous and slit-eyed, I wake and wait,
Lying and listening, ever the expectant father
A low moan comes, followed by baby babble—
First questioning, then confident
He is finding his voice, they say

Creeping in, newly uncertain,
I see dark eyes reflecting dim, hesitant light
Slowly revealed are a sturdy crib, tousled blankets
And a crooked smile, trusting and pure with delight,
Saying silently and succinctly:
"I knew you'd come"

-Peter Dabbene

Peter Dabbene is a Hamilton, New Jersey-based writer. He has also published two story collections, Prime Movements and Glossolalia, as well as a novel, Mister Dreyfus' Demons. Some of his stories can be found online at www.parentheticalnote.com, www.eyeshot.net, www.quantummuse.com and www.yankeepotroast.org, in print in US 1, American Drivel Review, North Atlantic Review, Universe Pathways, Riversedge, Cantaraville, and the anthology Tribute to Orpheus, and recorded in the audiozine Scyweb Bem.