Contributor: Ben Nardolilli

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Of course you think every situation
Is suspicious and everyone around you
Is a suspect for an upcoming crime
That has yet to use you to break the law.

You are too beautiful, too rich, too good
To be left alone by the masses
That teem with criminal thoughts
And sinful impulses bred in alleyways.

A car stops and parks by the sidewalk,
You expect to be kidnapped
Or at least harassed in some way,
But it drives away and you find no incident.

A man bumps into you and your neck
Tenses up in great expectation
For a seizure of hair, then a wallet,
And then a body after the money is gone.

A child laughs at you and runs away,
She turns a corner and you walk around
Hoping an ambush has been set up,
But no guns or daggers greet you there.


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Ben Nardolilli currently lives in Arlington, Virginia. His work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, Danse Macabre, The 22 Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, Elimae, fwriction, THEMA, Pear Noir, The Minetta Review, and Yes Poetry. He has a chapbook Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained, from Folded Word Press. He blogs at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com and is looking to publish his first novel.

Contributor: Ben Nardolilli

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I embrace the idols of the tribe,
but such statues as I find beautiful,
and which I can hold together,
many statues
from many tribes,
I celebrate tricolors,
and wrap myself in sashes
to cover up the differences
that might be mistaken
for cross-cultural gashes,
ignoring the calls the tribe,
the calls centered on the idols
prayers for their protection
requiring sacrifice of blood,
atonement to ancestors,
I avoid them with the clamor
the marketplace provides
so generously,
I hide in the Babel tent of noise until
such war calls pass,
but before the idols of the market,
all the identities for sell,
I do not bow,
It is the advantage of the age
to be able to run like this,
no heritage under a copyright
no swords to clash for battered books.


- - -
Ben Nardolilli currently lives in Arlington, Virginia. His work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, Danse Macabre, The 22 Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, Elimae, fwriction, THEMA, Pear Noir, The Minetta Review, and Yes Poetry. He has a chapbook Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained, from Folded Word Press. He blogs at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com and is looking to publish his first novel.

Contributor: Ben Nardolilli

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Nothing, friend, can amaze you,
Sticking to the avenues
And calling the side streets an adventure,
You fail to even burrow
Or mine this town of plain and dark places.

The rain falling is what bothers you most,
You have no way to imitate it,
The thunder goes off in nearby car music,
It pierces your air the same,
You have your lightening in the neon bars.

Everything but the rain you have contained,
A shower is close to it,
But you cannot wash along the avenue,
It falls and you fear drowning,
The wetness makes you think of sinking,

Ask these clouds and the storm to leave,
You will have no rain,
The rainbow is a prize for me to see,
But you cannot enjoy it,
You are stained from coloring in the lines.


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Ben Nardolilli currently lives in Arlington, Virginia. His work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, Danse Macabre, The 22 Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, Elimae, fwriction, THEMA, Pear Noir, The Minetta Review, and Yes Poetry. He has a chapbook Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained, from Folded Word Press. He blogs at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com and is looking to publish his first novel.