Eye of the Bottle by Joseph S. Pete

[tabby title="Poet Bio"] Like the Eye of Sauron,few can endure the blistering gaze of that aperture.Many hunch over the bar, nursing that fourth beer,wasted and woebegone, wild with lubricated abandon.But few can stare indefinitely into that amber abyss. The void...

Strong Brew by Joseph S. Pete

[tabby title="Poet Bio"] The multinational coffee giant tried to bury the union,grind it down before it could coalesce,percolating propaganda about valuing its underpaid and overworked partners,talking up sweeteners like complimentary streaming subscriptions.firing organizers and dragging out contract talks. But the...

Farmers Market by Joseph S. Pete

[tabby title="Poet Bio"] Bored with the same-old, tried-and-true, tiredrotation of corn and soybeans every other year, burnt out from the constant stress and worryover drought or flooding or low yields or a market crash, the farmer cleared a little land...

Coffee Shop by Joseph S. Pete

[tabby title="Poet Bio"] Dairy, soy, oat, cashew, almond, macadamia, rice, quinoa, coconut, hemp.The half-filled cartons were all splayed out at the edge of the cafe counterlike forlorn empties, fallen soldiers amid the detritus of an evening of drunken revelry. The...

A Siege of Herons by Joseph S. Pete

[tabby title="Poet Bio"] A siege of herons flaps ominously overhead,beating their broad wings against the cloud-scraped canvass of the pewter-blue sky. The primordial predators soar, scanning the clear waters below,their delicate plumage belying the deadliness of their harpoon-like beaks, the...