The Fireman I’ve been here for days. The lever, like the firm hand of someone’s father, clicks into place. I’ve been here for days, it seems, before the water starts to flow— a soft trickle, at first, a whisper of piss, basically, upon a symphony of flame. My watch face is not visible through the [...]

The following is a “found poem” by George Paris, local poet, who was inspired to rearrange and re-imagine some words he found in our current issue of seveneightfive. George Paris has a book signing event for his new book of poems, “A Distant Home,” this Saturday from 3-5 at the Blackbird Cafe and Bistro in [...]

“Fast forward twenty years: Dad with some drinking buddies; one of them hauls out a home movie, racy, with girl-chicks in it.  They pop beers and settle back while the 8-millimeter reels off grainy scenes  of a bunch of nubile wenches in hot swim suits. Dad’s world tilts; he comes to: Hey, those are my [...]

by Dennis Etzel, Jr. “What dark thing have you done to me?” becomes a mantra in Rachel Zucker’s poem “What Dark Thing.” As this experimental poem explores how women feel captured by both marketplace and cultural position, its disjointedness reflects this capture as damaging. In Museum of Accidents (Wave Books), Zucker writes her lyrical poems in [...]

by Stella Robbins Two doors down, past the antique store but before the florist, in the watch repair and jewelry shop, sits a little lady on a velvet-covered chair, minding her manners, ready to flutter to her full height, her ninety pounds and beatific smile whenever a customer bings the bell. Otherwise, she sleeps, a [...]