Johnny Mars is Five, Beetles in the Lingerie & Other New Poems

Have we a mixture of poetry and prose poems for you today! Dying planets. Beetles in the lingerie drawer. And birthday parties in space. Our contributors are Grievous Angel regular Marge Simon and two new (to us) writers from Canada – Evelyn Deshane and Maaja Wentz.


Blues for a Dying Planet
by Evelyn Deshane

They brought lawn chairs to
the end of the world bash. Don't
they realize the bash isn't the party
but the sound of the rock-faced earth
splitting in two? The end of the world
cannot happen in your lifetime. It is too
large to comprehend, and we are a feeble
species who cannot think beyond our
own heads. We can't even imagine what to
wear at our own funerals. The morticians
do it for us, put make up on us, and give us
fishhooked mouths to keep us from releases
carbonous gasses. The earth will release
gasses, too (it is right now) & it will explode.
The void it will create we cannot understand.
How could we? So we bring lawn chairs
to the end of the world party, thinking it's our bash
until we hear the sound.


* Evelyn Deshane is Canadian speculative fiction author, academic, and sometimes poet. Her work has appeared in Plenitude Magazine, The Rusty Toque, Lackington's Magazine, and Tesseracts. Evelyn received an MA from Trent University and currently studying for a PhD at Waterloo University. http://evedeshane.wordpress.com


Two Odd Bedfellows
by Marge Simon
 
The unicorn beetle, or Hercules beetle, is a particularly striking insect. Women believe it to have extraordinary powers. Once acquired, the beetle must be kept away from light. Most women hide their unicorn beetles in their lingerie drawer. The male has a conspicuous horn that may be as much as 2 inches long, but usually less. Unicorn beetles are rare. It is not recommended for men to explore a woman's lingerie drawer without first donning heavy gloves.
 

My sister Celeste is crazy about the paintings of Archimboldo. She makes busts of dictators from rotting vegetables and crusts of leftover sandwiches. Most of them look like my principal, Mr. Modine. Celeste doesn't like criticism.


* Marge Simon is an American artist and a writer of speculative poetry and fiction. Her poems, short fiction, and illustrations have appeared in hundreds of publications, including Amazing Stories, Strange Horizons, The Pedestal Magazine, Chizine, Niteblade, Vestal Review, and Daily Science Fiction. Marge is a former president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. http://www.margesimon.com


When Johnny Mars Turns Five
by Maaja Wentz

There is something supernumerary about a cake in space.
Amid nebulae and stars, why bother with frosting?
Sand storms scour, oblivious to our rising batter,
Baked from substitutes and clones 
Of earthbound ingredients.

For many lands and peoples, birthdays don't mean cake, but
Americans, Canadians and transplanted Brits
Would have their galaxy and eat cake too.

Calculating Earth-years and lighting little candles
Feel like arcane rituals, so far from home, but
We cling to what makes "us" and makes our children ours,
Despite cyborg parts and lankiness,
With precious little slices.


* Maaja Wentz is an award-winning Toronto writer. She enjoys performing poetry on subjects ranging from advertising history, to Dionysius, vampire romance, and space colonization. She reads and participates in panel discussions at public cultural events as well as book-oriented science fiction and fantasy conventions. http://www.maajawentz.com