Daily Mantra

I am ready please
For my daily brutalities
This sweet disease

To this ghost I submit
Revived memories won’t quit
Fatal premature obit

Been months, years, since our last drive
Stuck in reverse, on the 95
Are you even still alive?

This urge for personal pain
You – the maiden, I – the swain,
Our vicious benediction, amen

Blurry, my compass spun
Blood loss in Allston
A map I won’t outrun

The home as definition
But removed from our traditions
A hurtful lesson in cognition

Tortured, scarred, and sore
Crushed in a phantom war
And I want more

 

After living in Los Angeles for many years, Jake Tringali is now back in his home city of Boston. Runs rad restaurants. Thrives in a habitat of bars, punk rock shows, and late-night adventures. His first book Poetry for the Neon Apocalypse in available on Amazon.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of Poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.