Poem by Linda M. Crate

disconnect

if we took a heart for a heart
would anyone in the world feel?
more importantly does anyone
feel anything now?
we’re all so disconnected with this
technology supposedly twining us so tell me
how many people follow you
do any of them really care about your life?
how many do you know in real
life and have you met just one of them?
i want to go to my mail box,
and receive hand written letters like i used
to when i was a kid or birthday cards
when my birthday arrives;
i want to talk on the phone instead of getting
a million texts and i want people to
realize that i have a life
outside of work—
tell me when was the last time you felt fresh
air upon your face or the rushing current
beneath your feet or smelled the
flowers?
life doesn’t last forever spend it doing the things
that matter with the people that matter
before they decide to spend time with people
who aren’t you.

Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press – June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon – January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic was published in March 2015.

Allison Goldin is an artist living in California. Her work is a collection of spontaneous drawings from the imagination. The most common link throughout her art are the semi-recognizable creatures scattered amongst and bringing together the surrounding doodles.