Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
Some people
live their lives
poised in the edge
of a caffeine bauble,

I prefer
the whiskey bottle broken
open,
floating up on the carbonation
of a Pilsner

I prefer
the clarity of vodka
sweetness of rum
or even a wine infusion

to the sucrose
kisses of candy coffees.


- - -

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
A man tells men
to drink a beer a day
Better than caffeine he says

Cleans out the whole system
makes sure to rid you
of stones

Makes you stand
and stretch all night
but the benefits outweigh
the wakefulness

Then tips me large
after two mugs
trickling away.


- - -

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
Take me in
through the skin
a peculiar drug

Take me in
through the nose
a fecund scent

Take me in
through the cone
absorbed in the eye

Let me populate
your world
with my presence

Absorb me
each moment until
we are the same.


- - -

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
He's got a code name,
so does she, they talk in
their own language, which
goes way back to when they
first candlelit met.

She's the Yellow Beetle,
He's the Blue Oak,
and none of it means
anything but memory.


- - -
Russ Cope is a writer from West Virginia. He's been in food service, janitorial service, and many other jobs. His poems have appeared on Poetry Super Highway.

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
He's got a bullet
and a trench coat, some
figure from a pulp novel
cover, masquerading
as a real person

I expect the world around
him to go a pale shade
of grey, shadows here
and there, and a glowing
lady of cinemas to dip
low in his arms

but all he does is order
a bagel.


- - -
Russ Cope is a writer from West Virginia. He's been in food service, janitorial service, and many other jobs. His poems have appeared on Poetry Super Highway.

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
I have been made
and fashioned out of old
drapes and spit and polish,

out of daddy's booth leather
and the stuff at the bottom
of whiskey glasses after a
long evening

I have been made from the
matter on the bottom of boots
mingled with the substance
of heaven

I have been made.


- - -
Russ Cope is a writer from West Virginia. He's been in food service, janitorial service, and many other jobs. His poems have appeared on Poetry Super Highway.

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
Spear and wings,
victory and kindness,
she is loving to them
as she leads them away

Wise, prudent,
mouth full of blood,
eyes full of conflagration,
the battlefield littered.


- - -
Russ Cope is a writer from West Virginia. He's been in food service, janitorial service, and many other jobs. His poems have appeared on Poetry Super Highway.

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
Infused with herbs of nature
and filling the mouth with sour
scent

Mingles with the sweet, the over
powering, to water the soul
and create a new flavor


- - -
Russ Cope is a writer from West Virginia. He's been in food service, janitorial service, and many other jobs. His poems have appeared on Poetry Super Highway.

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
the name escapes me
along with the taste
the world escapes me
and I try to remember
my name
and the important details

but something else
escapes me


- - -
Russ Cope is a writer from West Virginia. He's been in food service, janitorial service, and many other jobs. His poems have appeared on Poetry Super Highway.

Contributor: Russ Cope

- -
This is the myth of me
and how I overcame my
many trials, how I battled
the three-headed father-in-law
and made journey to the land
of the liquor store, returning
with enough lotus blossom
for us each, forgetting our
dates and state capitals,
and how my sword sings
when I try to pull it out.


- - -
Russ Cope is a writer from West Virginia. He's been in food service, janitorial service, and many other jobs. His poems have appeared on Poetry Super Highway.