Ataraxia

Vol. 3 • March/201 4

selected literature with illustrations

Three

By Michael Prihoda

make it holy

how do you (un)(a)(d)dress

a woman

and make it holy?

permission

is

the

$31 .50

monthly

phone bil l

my permission to l ive?

too much?

the facial features of a wall socket

sexual overtones in the bedroom

who has seen too much?

“The (Magazine) Rack”

by Keenan Schott

Sarah Jessica Parker

Airbrushed and photoshopped

Virtual ly unidentifiable

Cate Blanchett

“Standing on the brink of something exciting”

Holding an invisible cigarette that rests in an invisible

cigarette holder

Janet Yellen

Stares thoughtful ly into the distance

Old as shit

The self-importance of human beings

Is a funny thing

To me

Kate Gosselin

Slave driver

Giving the most furious thumbs up ever

Khloé Kardashian

Pregnant and showing

I don't know “who's the daddy”

Andi Eigenmann

Strong, fearless, and ready to face anything

In a lacy sports bra

The self-importance of human beings

Is a funny thing

To me

Joe Manganiel lo

Ruggedly handsome with salt and pepper stubble

Having trouble reading the board

Jane Seymour

Stiff as a stiffy

Hopes to inspire people with her 62 year old

bikini body.

Nicole Richie

Anorexic Again

Walking on the grass instead of the sidewalk

The self-importance of human beings

Is a funny thing

To me

Kent Moyer

Modern Samurai?

More like modern comb over!

The self-importance of human beings

Is a funny thing

To me

Untitled

by Gene Feenie

i begin to compose,

its al l a joke any way

whey and soy, chiecks and bois

down on the CCR and the TV sti l l Knockin/

Life hard-rockin' trol l-stompin'

fl ips and clicks, fl ips, and trix

sing a song to sang sang/ sangria sangre sange

let the flow pull up the zipper and drive away in cursive

flow through the pinhole and thread stutter0chat gibberish

ohm through the newish moon zoom in on the bluish bloom;

UNITY

Cut/. . .

i saw dem today, the sky by gray, day be fly gone by and

by down the bayou.

Wishing sti l l to be beside her, aching for warmth, yet

i know not even whom she be.

throw up the past and begin on into the future, wheat

grass, and chlorophyll

stomach ful l of air and pil l \\ let the medicine work its way

on in let the story Begin again.

To Scale

by Tyler Meier

The whippoorwil ls invented you.

That summer, there was a careful measure

of muddy river that you pulled l ike a leash through

the lowlands,

l ike you and the country were a dog.

That summer, someone twisted all the maples

in their sockets. You renamed the season

studio apartment and made it part of your big city.

I drove my name through it l ike a bus.

What is not a passenger? What is the penalty

when the rent is due on what you believe in,

and you stuff the mailbox ful l of l i l ies?

Night is the biggest animal I know.

Night says Let’s use this cornfield

as a mission statement. Night says

Here’s a little starlight, ground lovers.

You write your name over and over

in the sky that is a crypt ful l of pain,

that is a technical history of almost

anything. Sap-Moon the soapbox we were never

not on. Sap-Moon like a song we sing

to the windows in our houses.

What a pocket does to the spirit:

memorizes it

in the language of stowaways. All summer you said:

Tel l me this is a big country

I gave you a mason jar ful l of rain.

Here is your crystal ball, I said.

Tell me what will become ofme.

Jody

by Jahnavi Delmonico

dollop of mother-candy

round, industrious

send away the bashful dirt

sai l home in a hard boat of pain l ike masts shattering

on waves as loving as a husband

and the two of you unwrap chocolate bars together

sitting in bed

Ataraxia is a monthly zine organized, edited,

and printed by rasasvada. We publish various

projects online and in limited paper copies.

Find more poems, stories, articles, art

and info about submitting your own work

at rasasvada.net.

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