Issue 7 September 2020
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1 WELCOME ISSUE 7 SEPTEMBER 2020 ‘Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.’ Susan Sontag I gotta be meme. Nick North Welcome to Fleas on the Dog! We’re a no frills brown bag online lit rag with only one focus: GOOD WRITING. Our style is ‘HOTS!’—hands off the submissions! We publish every submission exactly as received, so there might be arbitrary spacing, pagination and files containing more than one font. What you won’t find are pretty pictures and fancy layouts. We like this ‘broadsheet’ deconstructionist approach—the printed page as its own aesthetic—inspired by the ‘Beat’ presses and journals because it visually footprints the individual in a way a uniform format does not. We hope you like it too. (In some cases with poetry, Hezekiah’s intro will be found at the bottom, not the top of the page.) The artistic voices, those of heart, mind and spirit, must never capitulate in the face of tyranny. Art is the instrument of conscience, the fellow of truth. Out of the mouth of the beast rises Sappho’s song. Opening the spaces of mind, nourishing the body of compassion, only happen when we write about what matters and what needs to be written. To do this literature (and that includes CNF) must have the power to offend. If the dissenting voice is silenced the sediment in the bottle is artifice not art, materialism minus the atom, spirit minus the ghost. It is up to us to eschew the damnations of political correctness and its idiotic spin off, cultural appropriation. The right to question, the right to disagree, the right to risk is our call to arms. And for those of our fellow writers who can no longer protest without personal consequence—the torch has been passed: we must do it for them! This is what writing is all about. What real writing is all about. Writing is hard. Good writing is even harder. Yeah, but she’s a woman we all grumbled. What’s going to happen to our Dude cave? We’ll have to put in another washroom! We don’t use the washroom, remember? We use the kitty litter box like any disrespecting flea-bitten mongrel. Well, pondered Tom, it looks like the female of the species is out there. I guess it was God’s plan to create two genders after all. I mean, you gotta admit the parts fit. Sure, if you’re straight! Who said that? Besides, we don’t believe in god, remember? Sorry, guys, I think she’s here to stay. Knock, knock! Who’s there? JANET COLSON, Drama Editor. Who??? Let me fucken in! Um…Charles, get the door. I’m not getting the door. Rob, you get the door…Rob? Oh, Rob…? Where’s Richard? Richard, get the door! I can’t. I’m on the kitty litter! WTF. Tom, you get the door. Okay, on THREE! One , two, THREE! WELCOME! (Later) Hey, this is a pretty impressive CV, Janet! And why not? A woman can do anything a man can do! (From the litter box) Oh yeah? Try holding up a hat with no hands! And I can do that, too! HUUUUUHHH???? 2 Starting with this issue we are going to publish every 4 (that’s FOUR) months instead of every 3 (trois, tre, drei). And we are limiting the number of published submissions to 100 max. Believe it or not, we all have lives outside of insects and canines. A word about email. Questions like, “are you just one guy posing as six?” or “how come the email’s from Charles when it’s sent from Tom’s url?” So, let us explain, once and for all. When FOTD was whelped, we each had a site email. [email protected], [email protected]... Etc. But soon there were messages for Charles that really should have gone to Rob and Steve in the UK was getting crap meant for Richard. So it was decided (decreed?) that the solution was to have ONE email [email protected] that comes from Tom’s address. The message the email contains is from the editor who signs it. Period. Done. Oh, and yeah, we are separate people, (just check our STD files) and that’s why we included our personal email links. Capite?! We’re just six crazy dudes and one cool fox who love the language and fall on our knees at the sound of beautiful words in all their glorious reach and transformative power. At FOTD we share that with each submission we publish, each different from the other, some miles and styles apart, but always burning. Nisi optimum et clarissimum. And now we give you Issue 7. Full of sound and fury, signifying talent that will keep you reading today and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. And until we meet again in Issue 8, always spread the LOVE and STAY SAFE, or, as we say here in wonderful Canada, the true north strong and Flea, “Stay safe, eh!” Tom, Charles, Hezekiah, Janet, Richard, Rob and Steve TABLE OF CONTENTS ISSUE 7 PART ONE FICTION 1. ‘Anatomy of Melancholie’ by Jonah Howell (Literary), P. 9 2. ‘Hummingbird Fights’ by Chris Cover (Literary), P. 23 3 3. ‘How I Done Good in School’ by James Hanna (Humour/Literary), P. 31 4. ‘Multiple Resonances’ by Richard Kostelanetz (Experimental), P. 45 5. ‘Downtown Cool’ by Christopher Johnson (Dirty Realism), P. 51 6. ‘Vacation in the Shade’ by James Moore (Sci/Fi/Literary), P. 70 7. ‘The Borderline Poet Returns to Borderline’ by Michael McGuire (Modernist), P 109 8. ‘Chicago Sportster 48’ by Jesse Sensibar (Bent Realism), P. 127 9. ‘The United States of Centralia’ by Daniel Walker (Dystopian/Literary), P. 131 10. ‘Artificial Daughter’ by Tina V. Cabrera (Futurist/Literary), P. 143 11. ‘Artificial Mother’ (Revised) by Tina V. Cabrera (as above), P.152 12. ‘Old Money Takes a Hit’ by Darryl Scroggins (Flash), P. 177 13. ‘Coincidence is the Recreational Face of Irony’ by Nick North (Carverist), P. 179 14. ‘Smiley and Laughing Girl’ by Francine Rodriguez (Regional/Mainstream), P.187 15. ‘A Waste of Expectations’ by Francine Rodriguez (as above), P. 209 16. ‘3 Shorts’ by Michael Clough (Literary), P. 220 17. ‘The Wave Equation’ by Mark Antokas (Surrealist/Literary), P. 226 18. ‘The Death of Brutus’ by Mark Tulin (Humour/Mainstream), P. 248 19. ‘Peace’ by Camilo Aguirre (Hybrid), P. 258 20. ‘Naked’ by Elizabeth Kilani (Rad prose), P. 264 21. ‘Sedatives’ by Elizabeth Kilani (Rad prose), P. 275 22. ‘Defund the Marriage’ by Aaron Morell (Urban Realism), P. 283 4 23. ‘Art Appreciation’ by Lindsey Fischer (Literary), P. 290 24. ‘The Extraordinary World of a Professional Photographer by Chitsanzo Changa (Noir-ish), P. 296 25. ‘Mussolini Monologue’ by Steve Gold (Micro), P. 302 26. ‘Writing the Limits’ by Sean Lerche (Literary), P. 304 27. ‘The Man Who Pulled Himself Together’ by Dave Henson (Literary), P. 309 28. ‘Stone Man and Statue Boy’ by Dan Shirey (Surrealist/Literary), P. 314 29. ‘Trial Run’ by Connor de Bruler (Dirty Realism), P. 321 30. ‘Cheerios on the Sunday After’ by Lauren Schmidt (Urban Realism), P. 334 31. ‘What If’ by David and Gloria Summers (Mainstream), P. 349 32. ‘Aborted Fetus Vaccine’ by Daniel de Culla (Hybrid/Guerilla Prose), P. 356 33. ‘Evanie the Attainer’ by Anton C. Helmick (Literary/Excerpt), P. 363 34. ‘Some Tales’ by Tom Ball (Futurist), P. 371 35. ‘Five Minutes in Purgatory’ by Abigail Miles (Emerging Fiction), P. 384 36. ‘Overexposed’ by Joey Scarfone (Rough Cut), P. 394 37. ‘Death Battalion’ by Robert Standish (Historical), P. 410 POETRY 1. ‘10 Poems + 1’ by Gerald Wilson, P. 419 2. ‘11 Poems’ by Frank De Canio, P. 435 3. ‘Husk’ by Ryan Lee, P. 447 5 4. ‘People are only people through other people’ by Chris Biles, P. 449 5. ‘3 Poems’ by Bruce McRae, P. 461 6. ‘A Tiny Grain of Sand’ by Robert Standish, P. 465 7. ‘4 Poems’ by Tzy Jiun Tan, P. 473 8. ‘5 Poems’ by Hikari Miya, P. 478 9. ‘Midnight Messiah’ by Joey Scarfone, P. 486 10. ‘Possum to the Fleas et al’ by Shelby Stephenson, P. 488 11. ‘Mouth Pain Lays with Me et al’ by James Croal Jackson, P. 500 12. ‘Shore Duty, The Kid’, by Nathan Porceng, P. 511 13. ‘back to go and other poems’ by RC deWinter, P. 518 13. ‘The Silence That Followed’ et al by David J. Thompson, P. 524 14. ‘After You’ve Gone’ et al by William Butler, P. 530 15. ‘3 Poems’ by Lauren Scharhag, P. 533 16. ‘Things in the Box’ by Amy Bernstein, P. 540 17. ‘Picasso and other poems’ by D. S. Maolalai. P. 548 18. ‘Pythia’ by Charlie Jacobson, P. 560 19. ‘At Least to Me’ et al by Sandra Kolankiewicz, P. 566 20. ‘The Horse in the Pasture’ by Jack Galmitz, P. 570 21. ‘3 Poems’ by Edward Zahniser, 574 22. ‘fields afire and other poems’ by Jack Henry, P. 578 23. ‘Post-Modern Papyrus’ et al by Liana Kapelke-Dale, P. 589 24. ‘3 Poems’ by Edward L. Canavan, P. 601 25. ‘Before the Law, ‘Pop’’ by Connor McDonald, P. 605 6 26. ‘Flash Bang Boom’ et al by Howie Good, P. 608 27. ‘yeah, sure, why not’ et al by Paul Tanner, P. 613 28. ‘Totes Heavy Burden’ by Joe Sonnenblick, P. 623 29. ‘Who Likes Christmas’ et al by Arianna Sebo, P. 625 30. ‘5 Poems’ by JoAnn LoVerde-Dropp, P. 629 31. ‘Wheat Paste’ et al by Christine Byrne, P.