INDONESIA JAZZ BY ASPEN GAINER 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 22

Indonesia Brown. Now there was a woman. Not sure the first moment I fell in love with her, but I still remember the first moment I heard her sing. Picked me up and knocked me flat against a wall, her voice. You know, we could shake up the heavens in that gospel choir but I never heard someone singing like her, right from some deep, secret place that was pure woman.

We sat staring blankly at the TV.

VIETNAM VETS BY STEVEN MCBREARTY 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 22

A tattoo of a flower on her left hip and a brother who was a draft dodger. “I saw where there might be an amnesty,” I said.  “With Nixon in there?” Kat said. “Maybe Nixon’ll get impeached,” I said.

Is poetry dead?

IS POETRY DEAD? BY DAVE MORRISON 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 22

Is Poetry Dead? While you’re at it, consider this: Is Tetherball Dead? How about Paper Road Maps, orTypewriter Repair? Is the Yo-Yo Dead?

Not thinking about anything is incredibly difficult.

INFLECTION BY AK KULSHRESHTH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 22

There was time to kill and he killed a lot of time just looking out of the window. It was almost as good as reading. They often asked him what he was thinking about. He would mumble something by way of an answer but of course he had forgotten whatever it was, if there was anything.