Special Feature: Photography Series by John Sevigny
“One hundred years after Lewis W. Hine started work on his Ellis Island portraits, I wanted to document Latin American immigrants, hoping to give faces to the catch-all masses lambasted by Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan, and others who equate immigration with crime. This collection of portraits of Central American immigrants was taken at the Belen … Read more
Poetry by Chris Mansel
Movements of the Coast by Chris Mansel seawater, the difference between circling planes wanderings and piano rolls of bleached white ink marks interstate opal ring-like faucet openings, neurological spiral waves places where an ocean can corridor itself into a beach head watched of low frequencies reciting the contours of nearby cliffs Opaque missions read aloud, … Read more
If Electricity doesn’t Crackle by Doctori Sadisco
IF ELECTRICITY DOESN’T CRACKLE by Doctori Sadisco if electricity doesn’t crackle from your voice shut up begin again if the high mountain brook your eyes full of blue sky the living secret beneath the icy rock does not fly out of each word like a flock of quail in a glade then reach into your … Read more
Who Comes in that Hour of Darkness by Doctori Sadisco
WHO COMES IN THAT HOUR OF DARKNESS? by Doctori Sadisco I am a worm in the Tequila of politics. I am a spider in the wool of the sheep. I am the hook which drags my species toward wakefulness. I am the love of life inside every coward. I am the phoenix inside the boiling … Read more
And in Legal News, Playing Talk Show by John F. Buckley
And in Legal News… by John F. Buckley When? Now. Here I go, hitting my stride, no longer skidding on the loading-dock diamond plate, irascible magic beans in my sphinctered fist. There’s an openness to meaning, a maybe plum, the hole of a donut, the wind whistling through a Cheerio, when you greet me on … Read more
Poetry by Sonnet Mondal
Musing on the sea shore by Sonnet Mondal I sit on the sands of the sea-shore and I am not idle, Not to let the perfect atmospheric balance close its doors From which wonders may arise and fall on the sandy floor. For the last one and a half rounds of my analogue clock, I … Read more
Poetry by John Grey
NIGHT FALLS Epic of shadow and fading, the downfall of the sun, treachery of sky. The time of clarity is over. The obscure rules. Incomprehensibility sits on its right hand. Hardness on its left. Here comes night, and Street lamps, the ultimate deception. Treason is on the rise. Neon flatters to deceive. A man ventures … Read more
Moving Forward & Rime of the offcourse Navigator
MOVING FORWARD by Richard Fein Now it’s called a chronograph. No longer will grandpa pull a golden circle from his pocket, flip the lid open, softly pat my head and tell me it’s time for bed. Time is more precise today. Moments are measured in flashes, each flash a second, and always the present second. … Read more
Poetry by Sandford Fraser
You can often see the face of the enemy when you use a scope….History’s End (blog) Sniper on the Evening News A figure appears in his crosshairs. He zeroes in; I zero in: a face can be seen the eyes, staring at me. I feel my index finger slowly squeezing the trigger. … Read more
greetings from nowhere by peycho kanev
to say goodbye to everythingwhile you are still breathingis a small victoryover the big failure:the light will fade outlike a blown up light bulband the eternal darkness willgrasp you in its gentle armslike the first tonethat had rang out in the universe,smile upon one sad facethat knows that the victory is notso farvictory is deathI … Read more
Temps Perdu by William Doreski
The clock that leapt from the wall to smash face-down on scuffed gray tile when my seventh-grade teacher slammed the door has always haunted me. Pity warped hands waving at time lapsed forever. Grieve for the glass crown shattered into nasty little shards we crunched underfoot with our Keds. Our teacher, Mary Susan Davis, kept … Read more
pickings
by Jeff Crouch
ASPERITIES (or Bartlett’s Corrected) by Richard O’Connell
The world will perish of a surfeit of entertainment. The worst kind of pedantry is quoting yourself. The computer is as dumb as its programmer. I believe in hate at first slight. Absinthe makes the heart grow colder. For Nietzsche the creation of Woman was carrying a rib too far. He left no stone unthrown. … Read more
My Endless Denial by Ben Nardolilli
silence is texture and knocks compel my life to a mind one can hear inflated defenses and reason to will refuses at cliffs and will shut very strange heavens down abandoned words knocking on my door look beautiful wailing but aren’t even heard more astounding shadows often dance singing of birds with the lock of … Read more
Death in Our Era by Ben Nardolilli
They shall not die in a chain, But hands together, They will fall as one, in one circle, All longevity now While the sun burns the nearby hills, The collapse builds and the scythe Is drawn to flash at once, This is death in our era.
Darwinism by Gary Beck
The loss of habitat eradicates more then our myopic eyes ever notice and the ecosystem, once completely shattered, will remove the food chain that sustains birds, beasts, man.
American Myths by Gary Beck
The Founding Fathers devised E Pluribus Unum and are considered giants in the annals of history. Their intellectual stature dwarfs our current leaders, who face a level of problems that might have stumped Al, Tom, Jim, Ben.
Umwelt Spine by Andrew E. Colarusso
these are the oddities of my body, she points— oui, mais ceci sont les seins de mes reveries l ovage. larking, my dreamery around the galle ries explaining blue to the blind; blue is when you feel like this. she points— she sates thirst of pocketed middle class children; descent of fered reality. i’ve seen … Read more
Poetry Book Review
r by Peycho Kanev As I begin to read r – an unusual choice of title for a book, I see in the begining lines of the poem, small revenge, how the poet is verging between the dividing line of sanity and incoherence. It is somehow reminiscent of Baudelaire, beautiful yet potentially destructive. “I don’t … Read more
Updated Metaphor by Mike Berger
The metaphor that guides education has become dated. “Filling an empty glass with vintage wine”, has its problems. This one size fits all metaphor fails those kids who bring a full glass. They must kick their minds into neutral while the others are trying to catch up. I’ve seen kids with an empty glass. When … Read more
Gotham by Andrew E. Colarusso
brother cain knew gotham even before he saw the ear th respire. not of divine creation from this distance, incoming traffic appears the diamond necklace of a rich elderly wo man. the underside, urgent red a waning gibbous moon quietly contemplating words worth someday sharing; this will live a few more days in the loft. … Read more
Swallowed Whole by G. David Schwartz and Jennifer Wiehe
Swallowed whole in your endless control Numbed by every word Every phrase Your manipulations only Grow worse with age You have the power Sardonic and sour To made daises deflower And be swallowed whole
The Ethics of Ambiguity by Howie Good
1 Sometime during the night someone redrew the town line with a length of string and a piece of chalk. There are footprints that might be clues. A detective in an ancient derby sighs and crouches down. Some of the footprints belong to the green gloom of evening, some to ambiguous silence. 2 It’s another … Read more
After Rejection by Howie Good
I stopped at a yard sale. The woman nodded hi. There were many odd items – matted hair from the heads of madmen, baby clothes that had been worn by a miniature pinscher, a jar of eyeball jelly. I asked about the typewriter. She said it had spent its whole life up to now in … Read more
a b c d e oh so f u c k it has to be
i wish i had amnesia. here’s a brick. anyone?
Afterbirth by Heather Ann Schmidt
She left me & I was hollowed out– carved heirogliphics on my insides made from the scar tissue of birth. But the ghosts stayed & would not go out into the world even though I tried to blow them out with my cries. & so I starved the fear out & my bones began to … Read more
Summoning Leaves of Grass by Heather Ann Schmidt
I celebrate myself during the dawn’s tears on the soles of my feet like when you lie under a tree and petals fall on you and it feels like some heaven of light because of the aroma of lilac and this deeply colored world. I celebrate when my irises open up and catch the flecks … Read more
Sage Femme by Vanessa Jubis
I must wait for present to become past As the wind blows and I watch the heavy showers The day becomes dim and the skies overcast My body takes over and I begin to fall I tumble into the land that they call “out there” Time is still and meditation takes over The only breath … Read more
Nightly by Stephen Jarrell Williams
Homeless night stars dim finding his place in a hole in the alley sleeping in his shoes ready to run warming hands in his pants street hard against cold bones taking flight in a dream he repeats, repeats nightly.
The Horror by Stephen Jarrell Williams
Reaching the point of not knowing we’re sinning and believing we’re not.
Upon Receiving a Rejection Notice by Sergio A. Ortiz
Envy is the Lemonade Countess, small cutesy runaround with that oh, really, yes-yes expression on her face aristocrat macaques are so fond of. —Yes, Monsieur, we love your rigadoon dance. Your elegant word of the day, volupté . But in our presence, please, don’t mention frogs. They multiply in the mirrors at the king’s court.
In an hour by Sergio A. Ortiz
Like everything that finds me, damned spring, you’ve set a price on blooms of bugambilias around the periphery of my brow. And here I am drawing on conclusions. Who cares if love comes and goes in an hour? Goddamned lying spring, allow me to kiss you as if a kiss were more than just a … Read more
Bandit Nights by Sergio A. Ortiz
I am tired of this monotonous, sedentary afternoon in which long-faced gentlemen vociferate their ignorance of the Afghan war. Dazed afternoon under the scorching sun watching a mangy dog get up off the floor unconcerned with the child who just got shot by its side. I want to emigrate, find nights sharpened by the owl’s … Read more
Where we’ve been by Holly Day
we rolled the windows up against the rain and my father said “I wonder what that rat-bastard husband of yours is doing right now” and I just looked out through the glass and said nothing, watched countryside slide past in varying shades of green. behind me the tired baby cried in his car seat, tired … Read more
The Light by Holly Day
you give me refuge from everything real, wrap me in cool water, bright thoughts of tomorrow. demons howl outside my door, vampires hide in my shadow, persistent salesmen rap loudly at my window–my life tries to get back in. you make the dead buildings and dusty smog and bloody road kill disappear, fade to creeping … Read more
The Brake Job by Holly Day
she makes excuses for the rain, covers her ears at the first sign of thunder, feels her haze of fog as the sun, the world, fades away she makes excuses for the storm, buries her head beneath pillows, pretends to be asleep, pretends to be deaf to the crashing world the banging outside in the … Read more
Addict by John Grey
So hell has an address. Death has a door. And the devil’s in room 3A. The kid on the stoop will let you in. It’s up a creaky staircase. It’s straight but seems to wind. Old Clootie’s stretched out on a maggoty sofa, grinning flames. There’s a price even for agony. Pay up or you … Read more
Iraq Blues by Stephen J. Williams
I’m the soldier here in heat beyond comprehension longing for cool water sweat turning into salt pillars men eventually falling down into blurry mirages Iraqi children chanting for our choking death whirl of wind up from the endless sand trying to blow us away smear of black oil boiling on my face madmen infesting their … Read more
Questioning by Stephen J. Williams
Mankind damaged by darkness? Accidental experiment? Cursed innocense? Cruel love? Spirits eternally searching? Outcome beyond understanding? Death ending? Mankind healing in the light? We know not, but we keep questioning the haunting of God.
Touch by Stephen J. Williams
Relax into me everywhere the touch of us caressing tingle vibrating surge into a hush deep.
I am not Superman by John Grey
I’m just a man in a garden, blue jeans, green sweater, standing in freshly turned over soil, rake in hand. The lilac bush is sprouting. The lawn has learned to love the sun again. The bag of fertilizer rests against the fence. Seeds, like talent show contestants, drop into tiny ditches, prepare their summer act. … Read more
When the kitchen tells the future by John Grey
It’s afternoon in my kitchen. Shadows come into their own. One creeps across the floor. Another shrouds the refrigerator door. The one that I thought could only spread horizontal, finds its vertical muse at the iron feet of the stove. It so easily swamps that metal monster in its dim chill, as if the damn … Read more
Science in a Box by Mike Berger
Scientists put their facts in little boxes and attach a bow. Science seems hard when wrapped up in pretty boxes. Water doesn’t boil at 212°F only at sea level. Ninety-three million miles is the average distance from the earth to the sun. The third law of thermodynamics works only in a closed box. Gravity works … Read more
The Mad Professor by Mike Berger
They told him it was impossible; you can’t genetically engineer a super human clone. Those words only drove him. Without funding he’d have to go it alone. To pay for research, he cooked up batches of crystal meth. After two dozen failures, he finally got it right. Then he discovered something was terribly wrong. He … Read more
In the Shadow of a Junk Pile by Howie Good
Antiquaries in toupees, admit it! You never knew the nest existed until all the leaves fell.
Ultimate Demise by Dr. Mike Berger
The universe slowly rotates around its axis. The center moves extremely slow to keep the outer edges from flying apart. Is gravity alone sufficient to conserve angular momentum at the far reaches of the universe? What keeps that centrifugal force from sending galaxies hurtling off? You would think that the age of a rotating universe … Read more
Issue 1 – The Neglected Ratio E-zine
Click on the link for download or viewing: Issue 1 Contributors John Grey (Poetry) p 5-6 Roger Cornish (Poetry) p 6-7 Joseph Grant (Fiction) p 8-15 Julien Edmund Moss (Poetry) p 15 Dusty Pendleton (Art) p 16 Ricky Garni (Poetry) p 17-19 Kyle Hemmings (Poetry) p 19-20 Salvatore Buttaci (Fiction) p 20-23 Sergio A. Ortiz … Read more
Ezine Issue 2 – The Neglected Ratio
The second issue is out and ready to read, click on this link for viewing or download: Ezine Issue 2 Our contributors in this issue are: Stephan Anstey: hinges & knobs in a world without locksmiths, being a tom cat, Lubrication, Friction, and the Fiction of Kindness (p. 5) Chris Mansel: The Rest Is Silence, … Read more
Change
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery – Harold Wilson
Deconstructing Anna: Why Is Nobody Calling The Courtier naked?
Deconstructing Anna: Why is nobody calling the courtier naked? By Manu Kant Winston Churchill famously said of Russia: “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.” Ditto for Anna. Ditto … Read more
Future Directions of Indian and International Economy – An Audio Interview
The following audio interview has been provided by our international news correspondent Muhamed Riyaz. Muhamed interviewed Garry Jacobs regarding the economic growth of China, India, and the global status of debt crisis. Garry Jacobs is the co-founder of Mira consultancy, California and a Vice-President at MSS research center, India, which engages in social science research … Read more
Listen by Charles Bane, Jr.
Listen: when I was a child, I explored the jungle of ferns near my house on the island where the hibiscus close like shutters at night. I found sometimes living things and scooping them up, felt them beating in my hands. I blew between my fingers and thought they would remember the signature of my … Read more
Durid Dreaming by G.A. Saindon
After the creaking of the half, the irksome shuffling of the final quarter, my moon is fully quiet this evening, quiet in her refulgent orb, the diffusion of her ravishing aura across light years of occupied space devouring, swallowing the soon-forgotten idling in her path, those feeble sparks, those stars, so many dust motes on … Read more
In the Real Forever by Doctori Sadisco
IN THE REAL FOREVER by Doctori Sadisco I It is an age reflected in pyramids of cardboard and cities of glass and steel disintegrated in a flash. One day you will know only the fields and your city; then you will plumb the depths of the seas and space. Allowed to, only because you’ ve … Read more
Rings that the Rich Wear
Rings that the Rich Wear by Sana Rafiq I am constantly appalled when I happen to read news or hear from media sources that some public figure got engaged and their ring was worth so and so million. How disgusting is that? We must have a global security force or money watchdog that would … Read more
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Seeking Submissions
Writers, authors, poets, journalists, artists, photographers & friends: The Neglected Ratio is seeking submissions for fiction, articles, book reviews, photography/art & poetry for it’s first digital issue. Please check the guidelines for more information regarding the submission process. Don’t be shy! Thanks! Sana
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