Ambitious creature,
I know you from a foreseen road.
You would perform imperfect
love ballads as reflected from
gowns of a river swan.

Catching prey in glass spider webs,
woven from an arachnid kiln.
It was blown in the fashion
of mythology’s image, scarred by
its own accord and binding will.

Hello.
Have a poem.

Eat these words which I command you
this day to teach the descendants to believe.
To believe in no one but themselves,
to surpass the serpents of sorrow,
to exceed the elephants of elation,
to merge with their elemental guardians.

Gods for sale!
Goddesses for resale!
Deities immortalized beyond the pale!
Deities become mortal only to be impaled!

Infinite structure of ink on
blank pages of vibrating sand,
kinetic particles moving and grooving
to the beat of mythopoeia’s song.

Let nature’s bygones be gone.
Let nature’s bystanders stand.
Let nature’s passersby pass.

I love you, half who I do not require.
Let us enter love-stained sheets and retire.

Goodbye.
Give me back my poem.

Zack Wise

Z.M. Wise is a proud Illinois native from Chicago, poet, essayist, occasional playwright, seldom screenwriter, co-editor and arts activist, writing since his first steps as a child. He was selected to be a performer in the Word Around Town Tour in 2013, a Houston citywide tour. He is co-owner and co-editor of Transcendent Zero Press, an independent publishing house for poetry that produces an international quarterly journal known as Harbinger Asylum. The journal was nominated Best Poetry Journal in 2013 at the National Poetry Awards. He has published five books of poetry, including: Take Me Back, Kingswood Clock! (MavLit Press, 2013), The Wandering Poet (Transcendent Zero Press, 2014), Wolf: An Epic & Other Poems (Weasel Press, 2015), Cuentos de Amor (Red Ferret Press, 2015), and Kosmish and the Horned Ones (Weasel Press, 2018). Other than these five books, his poems, essays, and book reviews have been published in various journals, magazines, and anthologies. The motto that keeps him going: POETRY LIVES! Mr. Wise will make sure to spread that message and the love of poetry, making sure it remains vibrant for the rest of his days and beyond. Besides poetry and other forms of writing, his other passions/interests include professional voice acting, singing/lyricism/songwriting, playing a few instruments, fitness, and reading.

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