by Michael Estabrook

On the beach he surreptitiously snaps sultry photos
of a long-haired Latina
stretched out on a blanket sipping
a cool beverage from a sweating can
with his telephoto lens.
Later he emails a couple to his buddy George
who he grew up with
a half-century earlier.
When George responded with
“what kind of camera do you have?”
he knew they were now officially old men.

by Gerald Locklin

Kim Jung Un III,
Ruler of North Korea,
Might have shown a little leniency
To the cyber-circuits of SONY

If he hadn’t found
The Interview
As big a waste of his time
As did those millions of Americans
Who never, among them, uttered
A single giggle.

by Gerald Locklin

Toad had always assumed
He would one day make
A return trip to Cuba,
Where he’d enjoyed
A Hemingway Symposium
In the summer of 1997,

Until Obama decreed
He was going to allow
Every Tom, Jose, and Hairy Dick
Not only to visit the fabled isle
And sample its cigars, rums, and
Sugar cane,

But, for a nominal fee,
Take a guided tour of Guantanamo
And, when the tides were right,
Try their hands (and feet and faces)
At their choice of either surfboarding
Or waterboarding.

by Donna J. Long

His proposal was unexpected.  I leapt
delighted — yes — into his arms, eager
for pleasure legal & tender.  Shopping for

a diamond ring I discovered he had
so much money and a great desire
to buy the latest electronic — whatever —

for himself.  I said no, set on a stone
that wasn’t just.  He grumbled & was proud
how his parents exclaimed.  I have small hands

& it fit.  I can’t put my finger on why
I believed a gold ring on my finger
guaranteed we would succeed, suddenly

be resilient against temptations of
the flesh — in other words his to loan his —
but as if I owned it I took the blame

he offered.  I can say this: I shouldn’t have
paid for everything — the license, the justice
of the peace, the place, the meal, the rings

we exchanged with our vows.  At the time
he was broke & I told myself
I wanted it just so.  I wanted it

just so he would say “’til death do us part”
& “in sickness and in health.”  That part
I bought.  How useful rings are, you know,

the wheel, the noose, handcuffs, in the circus
girls riding round & round.  The rings
on my vanity remind me he left

a lot of stuff — paper, wood, linen, willow.