Storm Cycle 2014 The Best of Kind of a Hurricane Press Edited by: A.J. Huffman and April Salzano ii Cover Art: “Breaking the Blue” by A.J. Huffman Copyright © 2015 A.J. Huffman All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Kind of a Hurricane Press www.kindofahurricanepress.com [email protected] iii CONTENTS Thank You from the 2 Editors From the 2014 Editor’s Choice Contest Winners Donna Barkman Scavenger Hunt 4 Denise Weuve Visitation Tuesday 7 Christopher Hivner Mathematics 9 Mary ewell The Traffic in Old Ladies 12 Alexis Rhone Fancher this small rain 14 Terri Simon Signs of the Apocalypse 16 From the 2014 Pushcart Prize ominees Michael H. Brownstein Before the Winter Storm 18 Drifted East Theresa Darling Another Departure 19 Amanda Kabak Common Grounds 20 Marla Kessler Twenty Eight Seconds 22 Emily Pittman ewberry Signs 24 Leland Seese Until ext Time 25 From the 2014 Best of the et ominees Ben Rasnic Urban Still Life 27 Richard Schnap Domestic Dispute 28 Marianne Szlyk Walking Past Mt. Calvary 29 Cemetery in Winter Jon Wesick A Postindustrial Romance 30 Joanna M. Weston I Meant to Tell You 31 Deborah L. Wymbs Spooning 33 From The Anthologies Sheikha A Alzheimer’s 35 Amanda Anastasi Half-Past 36 Steve Ausherman Closing Time 37 Mary Jo Balistreri The Steaming Cup Café 38 Coffee at the Double Perk 39 Pattie Palmer-Baker The Truth About Dahlias 40 David J. Bauman Recurrents 41 Sarah Bence DSM-V 43 Aaron Besson Sestina Omerta 44 Ali Carey Billedeaux Vintage Vinyl 46 vi Andrew M. Bowen Morning Goes Down to 49 ight Shirley J. Brewer Iced Latté 51 Andrew Campbell- The Alliterative Assassin 52 Kearsey Alan Catlin Jean Cocteau’s Shadow 54 Play of Life Mapplethorpe’s Hand and 56 Flower Cathleen Chambless Going Steady in 2013 57 Aidan Clarke Revenge of the Flowers 59 Daniel Clausen Again 60 Cathleen Cohen Writing Poems in 61 Beersaba’h SuzAnne C. Cole Beehives 62 Larry Crist I Broke into the House of 65 Writing Dah In Streetlight, His Wet Hair 67 Susan Dale Spaces Among Spaces 69 Tim Dardis Driving to Physical Therapy 71 After Reading Delmore Schwarty Bruce Louis Dodson The Time of My Life 72 vii Liz Dolan We Hope You Come Again 73 to Funland* Chiyuma Elliott Why I Called So Late 74 Alexis Rhone Fancher Tonight We Bloom for One 75 ight Only Cyd Ferree Unadulterated 76 Claire T. Field A Bouquet of Glads 77 Pattie Flint Beggar Lattés 78 Talk to Me in Marzipan 80 Sarah Flint Moon-Fat Moths 81 ancy Flynn Weather Hysteria 82 Linda Gamble Dragonfire 85 Sue Mayfield Geiger oir Couture 86 Phil Ginsburg Assorted Centers 89 Jessica Gleason Misshapen Adulthood 90 ancy J. Hayden Coffee Break on the Western 92 Front, 1918 Damien Healy Learning a ew Language 95 Harmony Hodges The Dancer 97 Trish Hopkinson Trash Bag Burial 99 Liz Hufford Fall Follies 100 viii Diane Jackman BBC Radio Interview 101 Miguel Jacq ine Year Microwave Sky 102 David James A Poem in Praise of the 104 Morning Sonja Johanson In the Church of the Holy 105 Coffee Bean Michael Lee Johnson Mindful, Mindless October 106 Date She 107 Babo Kamel I Tunneled Out of Bone 108 Clyde Kessler Spring Sequence 109 Marla Kessler The Job Interview 112 Irene Koronas Chance Show 114 Laura Lovic-Lindsay Summer Sacrament 115 Jacqueline Markowski Of Pigs and Pizza 117 Bradley McIlwain Winter Eulogy 119 Jane Miller Making What We Can 120 James Mirarchi The Shelleys Visit a 20 th 121 Century Carnival Mark J. Mitchell Musical Chairs 124 Ralph Monday Ophelia’s Flowers 125 Jude eale ew York, ew York 126 ix BZ iditch An Environmental Poet 127 Cristina M.R. orcross Just One Chocolate Slowly 128 Death By Turtle 129 Vincent O’Connor First Kiss 131 Coco Owen Downward-Facing Lotus 132 Mangal Patel Time’s Up 133 Simon Perchik Untitled 136 Richard King Perkins II Café Epitaph 137 Jendi Reiter Mis umeros 138 henry 7. reneau, jr. Selective Recall 140 Brad Rose Old Dirk Savors the 142 Prospect of Honeymoon Bliss with His Second Teen Bride Pink Candy Hearts 143 Sy Roth The Wallflower 144 John W. Sexton Through Her 146 Bobbi Sinha-Morey Missing 147 Smita Sriwastav Candy Foil Memories . 148 Anecdotes of the Defunct 149 Ferris Wheel Tom Sterner & the stone man said 152 x Kevin Strong Musical Lives 156 Fanni Sütő The Shadow Girl 158 Anne Swannell Keeping Time 159 Bellis Perennis Imitates 160 arcissus Marianne Szlyk Augusta, Maine 161 Listening to No Other , 163 Thinking of Takoma Park Yermiyahu Ahron Taub A Knight Shining, Without 165 Armor Judith Terzi The Anchorwoman 167 Talaia Thomas After the Before 169 Sarah Thursday ot Sleeping 170 David Turnbull I Want Candy 172 Jessica Van de Kemp The Last of the Old Gods 174 Tamara K. Walker I’ll Show You Sunshine 176 Mercedes Webb-Pullman Sunday at the Gallery 178 Stirring Sugar 179 Reading Shadows 180 Emma Whitehall Love Letter 181 Ron Yazinski Placebo 183 xi Class at Disney’s Animal 185 Kingdom Dana Yost Among Old Graves 187 Changming Yuan atural Confrontations 188 From the Journals Jonel Aballanosa While the Crickets are 191 Mating Carol Amato In the Distance, Crows 192 Janet Shell Anderson Wolf Cry 193 Steve Ausherman Untitled 194 Mary Jo Balistreri Untitled 195 Amy Barry Candy Colours 196 Karen Berry Disassembly Required 197 Byron Beynon The Furnace Quarry, 198 Llanelli Jane Blanchard Untitled 199 Sam Bockover Untitled 200 Andrew M. Bowen Chattlebury Park 201 Alan S. Bridges Untitled 203 Michael H. Brownstein Participles of Speech 204 J.J. Campbell Open Swing 205 xii Reflection 206 Theresa A. Cancro Metamorphosis (A Triptych) 207 Berceuse In Terra 209 Glower Scrapings 210 Seamas Carraher The Spoon in My Eye 211 John Casquarelli plug into confetti ballroom 214 Alan Catlin Light Through 215 Untitled 216 David Chorlton The Fading 218 A Rattlesnake in Summer 219 Daniel Clausen Memoir 220 Mike Cluff Pieces 223 Kelly Cressio-Moeller Haiku oir 225 Betsy Cullen At Cheever 226 Peter Dabbene Scratching 227 Dah Solo Flight 229 Susan Dale The Song Is Gone 231 A Fierce Winter ight 232 Us 233 xiii Cassandra Dallett In a Video Today Two Small 234 Deer Ran Across the Golden Gate Bridge Behind Them an Idling Line of Migratory Animals in Plexi-Glass Boxes J.P. Dancing Bear All Soul’s Day 235 Caked 237 William G. Davies, Jr. The Sunflower Chronicles 238 (A Triptych) Pijush Kanti Deb Untitled 239 Darren C. Demaree Wednesday Morning #137 240 We Are Arrows #195 241 James Diaz Fences Do ot Mend Each 243 Other Mountain ever in the 244 Gutter Belly Melissa Duclos I ever Told Anyone About 246 That Trip to Serendipity J.K. Durick Inventory 247 Liz Egan When He Leaves You 249 eil Ellman Woods (2) 251 Eric Evans Survey 252 Alexis Rhone Fancher Bad Apple 254 xiv Daniel . Flanagan Mental Illness 255 Ryan Quinn Flanagan Everyone Loves a 257 Motorcycle Sarah Flint Perfume 258 The Book 259 Vernon Frazer Fun and Prophet 260 Patricia L. Goodman All That Remains 261 When Winter Stayed 262 Taylor Graham Bird I ever Saw in 263 Daylight Wild 264 Allison Grayhurst Complete, but 265 John Grey Regarding the Hawk 266 I Have My Own Importance 267 to Attend to Carl James Grindley Television 269 Weapons 271 Cristine A. Gruber Split 272 Untitled 273 Standing Room Only 274 Ahab Hamza Psyche 275 xv Patricia Hanahoe-Dosch Driving Through Utah 276 Margery Hauser Silence 278 Heather Heyns The Chicken Dance 280 Wendy Elizabeth Appellation 281 Ingersoll Fear Itself 283 Bill Jansen Chinese Take-Away Sky 284 Ivan Jenson Ambulance Chaser 286 Michael Lee Johnson Cut Grass in Snow 288 Untitled I Walk 289 Ken L. Jones Appears to Be Rimbaud 291 Speaking A Few Choice Lines About 292 the Deities of the Mad Tea Party The Minotaur in the Dime 293 Store Unicorn Hunt 294 Larry Jones Dear Mother 295 B.T. Joy Escaping Criticism 296 Cat Energy on the Dog 297 Walk Reading Jinzhu Ridge 298 xvi Grampians 299 Steve Klepetar The Winter Shadow 300 Staff Meeting 301 John Kross All That I Have Felt 302 Martha Landman Your Skin 307 Back Then 308 Ron. Lavalette Haiku Stupid 310 Lyn Lifshin Some Afternnons When 311 obody was Fighting Duane Locke Terrestrial Illuminations 312 (2014) o. 380 Jack e Lorts Ephram Pratt Exhales the 316 Bliss of Light Chad W. Lutz A Breeze She Hardly Knew 318 Iain Macdonald Already Broken 319 Stacy Lynn Mar Hanging the Stars 320 Denny E. Marshall Untitled 321 Grace Maselli The Twinkies Are Gone 322 Anna McCluskey Found 324 Joan Mcerney Where the Lost Gather 325 Bruce McRae ight Train 327 xvii Less Than a Single Breath 328 Jim Meirose As It Is 329 Harpies 332 Karla Linn Merrifield Ménage à Trois 334 Les Merton By the By 336 Untitled 338 Ralph Monday Dinner with the Ghost of 339 Marilyn Monroe Love the Fiber Optics 340 Limbs Like Dark Branches 341 Jude eale Unbutton the ight 342 We Sing Ourselves Back 343 ayaz daryl nielsen Eleven Things About Wet 344 oodles That Everyone Should Know Untitled 345 Agholor Leonard Body Language 346 Obiaderi Mary Orovan Untitled 348 Reverse Haiku 349 Scott Thomas Outlar Ballerina of the Sky 350 Simon Perchik Untitled 352 xviii Kushal Poddar Am I Awake 353 Autumn 354 henry 7. reneau, jr. anaphase 355 Walter Ruhlmann A Bowling Ball in My 356 Stomach Fain Rutherford After Rendition 357 Winter Ops 358 Richard Schnap Encounter 359 John W.