The Brief Avenger

the golden register still rings
after the iconic $1 bills have been incinerated,
its heyday to spiral out to intergalactic emeraldhood,

prologue to a renamed movie that argues for loopholes
in the global tabulating of its worried megaplexes,
neither brave nor bloated enough

for the simpler times blandly enjoyed
between the dog-eared and the do-gooders,
the brief avenger that even seems forever-long

-- Glenn R. Frantz

GOP shifting on anti-tax policy
Big Blue Turns 100: IBM's Anniversary is One to Celebrate
'Green Lantern' passable, plausible -- none too illuminating

Beyond The Catskills

I've been to college.
I understand well the physics of flypaper,
and other vast amorphous concepts.

I know how to sing "Hey Jude" backwards,
while carrying spiders down fire escape ladders.
I'm irreplaceable...patiently waiting next door.

Let's ban hide and seek. Let's face jail time.
Let's cause intense emotional distress.
Let's be quirky. Let's tiptoe together towards infinity.

-- Scott H. Stoller

Lives Cut Short by Depression
A brief introduction to infinity
Tenn. law bans posting images that "cause emotional distress"

The Memory Suicide

It’s a little shocking to lose parts of us:
the painful memories and iconic moments
erased in the sunshine of a city beach.

Most pictures die. Constructing a new past
brings welcome relief, rubbing out remembrances
of our three months in San Francisco Bay.

We stand on the shore of mangled months
watching as time disappears below the water,
making no attempt to rescue remembrances.

-- Jenni B. Baker

Pill could erase painful memories, study shows
Happy 85th birthday, Marilyn Monroe
After officials watch man drown, city changes policy

Selling Heavy Rain

Across nations,
expensive war-era simplicity---
elementary guidance,

fabulously exact.
A relaxed anxiety kept it new.
Thought over order,

or order over thought?
Breathe, you discarded suicides,
breathe.

-- Scott H. Stoller

Are you taking too many meds?
Woman selling 'suicide kits' reignites right-to-die debate
Pentagon seeks mini-weapons for new age of warfare

Preparing Statement Tentacle

the inside hides mouth its spoke
pineapple roof blade and nineteen pure segmented
the with misspoke hides its mouthful

thought fakes gills and far curious elongated
smoldering yet cool or hardly
aflutter back fantastical and very

chip plates tablets and sharp flexible divided
the at shovel stalks its jaws
ring screens square and square both befuddled

-- Glenn R. Frantz

Egyptian tunnel town faces up to change
Windows 8: What Should Be, If You Ask Me
Prehistoric sea monster lived longer and grew bigger

Released from Norms

Images of paralysis: misunderstandings,
cultural mores from the waist down
and books being readied for the coffin.

We are entering an electrical era,
a lifetime of unprecedented stimulation,
devices assaulting ankles and knees.

The public’s intensive rehabilitation
kindles haggard steps of regained relief:
An ability to stand. The difference of hips.

-- Jenni B. Baker

Small steps for paralyzed man, giant leaps for treating spinal cord injuries
Amazon and Waterstones report downloads eclipsing printed book sales
Strauss-Kahn ‘Perp Walk,’ Naming Victim Divide France, U.S.

A Bizarre View

Strung border to border
air bound for dehydration
water roped by containers

Good chance to view a problem
potentially unknown, ignore their code
an evolved cat-and-mouse game

Conspiracy inspired, widespread
genetically generating a new truth
engineered theory of a child

-- David T. Snyder

Mexico police find 513 US-bound migrants in trucks
Microsoft: One in 14 Downloads Is Malicious
New book says USSR was behind Roswell UFO

Shaken and Grand

The century is an idealized past, a bad relationship.
Woody Allen films beauty shots of the spectacle,
as people recall the falling towers, the intense quake.

Forced out of their homes, residents find solace
in city streets while nostalgia-minded writers
premiere scenes of chaos in overpriced hotels.

Shooting along the year’s prolific rim, the city
expands living memory past the midnight panic,
opens a parachute and wafts to the present.

-- Jenni B. Baker

Spain: Lorca shaken by earthquakes
‘Jetman’ zooms along rim of Grand Canyon in first US flight
Cannes fetes Woody Allen and ‘Midnight in Paris’

Humiliation All Around

The theory of engineers says, this year the clock will be
the symbol for all objects. The globe a scattered fountain,
twirling in a bowl of perfect brightness.

Now the fleas have become the rat.
French troops drag the Missouri river for a lost horse.
The garden of bitter syrup is looted to spare opium.

Which confluence of mellow predictions
would divert the apple from its spinning?
Demolition will keep the ox out, but does not stop the boar.

-- Glenn R. Frantz

The meaning of Ai Weiwei's 12 Zodiac Heads
Our Opinion: River shows who's boss
Stanford study backs Einstein's relativity theory

Hold The Leaves

A week of strange plates. Bears
sweeping up sapphires
for the farm engagement, a crying pair

of cubs. The protestant tried a “popular
outdoor lookalike” on
worshipers. A replica bear recently walked.

Tian Church sounds its 1000’s | a hugely curious
cub-mother from HONG KONG picks out
a twin souvenir. Dozens of mugs gather in a home.

-- Annabella Massey

Royal Wedding: China's big souvenir takeaway
China detains Protestant Shouwang devotees
Twin bear cubs rescued by Chinese farmer

This Year's Programs

As nobody said, "Myopia is the testimony of the recent
against the many." So instead, I added a history jury.
Most of them didn't swear much,

except for one brontosaurus that had a cynicism deficit.
Unlike "The Loudest Obstruction Diet,"
there are not scads of prizes. (Or a severe skin reaction.)

Al Capone counts to a trillion
while he smiles at a baby grand.
And voilá, the new episode of "Brazen Justice"!

-- Glenn R. Frantz

Barry Bonds convicted of felony
Cannes Film Festival: What Directors Are Saying
Mr. Prudent: Obama Preaches Deficit Sanity

Friendly Push from West Awaits

the mysterious truth:
the space committee
had come this far
to the comfortable kingdom

the champions surrounded
a damaged city
continued a splendid editing
more than one rank load
hints what a month can not be

because the place of birth
that socket of speech
has released control
pressed the reeling host

Thus we closed the unique trunk
those sent to succeed who we could
we are after the keen majority

I gave them of the rain
and the water of the sea

I commence to scope the distance.

-- Jeff Nichols

Congress Awaits Answers on U.S. Mission in Libya
Libyan rebels push west into less friendly territory
Radiation from Japan 'not harmful': B. C. Scientist

Nor Key Fallen

business that
meaning that
scaled in noise the

bottles that damaged be two
meaning that double be parallel might clang to
juggled in safety the modestly gotten

played to basement the together landed
at radio asleep of silent the
with infants unsafe to

-- Glenn R. Frantz

It's the little things that pay off in low-key 'Win Win'
Iodine fears spark panic buying
D.C. airport tower silent as planes land

Racially Disposable Violations

Tea Party untethered
F-18 bigotry.
Pressed

multiday benders found
Mr Sheen
caressing

8 legged women.
Baffled evangelicals
fractured.

-- Dave Stinson

Are whites racially oppressed?
The Disposable Woman
'Spider-Man' Is Cited Again for Violations

Thrown On Purpose

every minute tilt of the frozen cargo
drew knowledge as a spacewalk code to the dexterous
          adapter,
and even so to wrongfully intend a discovery's experiment,

installing a special plate
that the holder did not recommend,
the wrapped camera charged with leaking light

and wantonly removing the second face of the face
from the published proceedings
that with every minute tilt...

-- Glenn R. Frantz

Libya stalemate presents diplomatic challenges
Soldier in WikiLeaks case charged with aiding the enemy
Discovery 'nauts wrap second spacewalk