By James E. Roethlein

Ocean Vuong and Metaphor Gate: The Social Media Controversy That Wasn’t

What Your Zodiac Sign Element Tells You About Your Love Life

Three Poems

I.

I made love to you

as fire freezes water

and dead men still dream.

II.

Hand in bitter hand,

laughter-the slow twisting knife,

driving me away.

III.

Sullen stone-razor

wire, cross my wayward path

through these desert lands.

IV.

Loneliness whispered,

then I took her to my bed,

and thought – it was love.

—

James E. Roethlein is a Christian and a poet residing in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. Among his publishing credits are Magnapoets, Speedpoets, and New Thoreau Quarterly. In 2010 he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Illustration: “The Final Cut” by Robb North