Rain Dance



Their joyous screams
silenced by thunder’s drumroll,
hands stretched to heaven
beckoning lightning’s fist
while bottoms jiggled
and fingers fumbled
over fungi bags.

Tents knocked over by wind,
flip-flops filthy from
murky mud movements,
and small magic paper
torn in soaked pants pockets,
they worked dances into frenzies
as bodies shed skin,
rolling in filth and sweat
and crying to the divine
in collective chemical orgasm.





Pulling Inward



After we drove in circles inhaling fumes
and bought liquor in bulk from the nearby store,
our hands raised glasses of vodka and fibers
which met and then tipped back down our mouths,
momentarily relieving us
from the heat of the scalding sun.

Hours later, they clapped in unison
to the sound of harmonica playing the solo from “Hook,”
and drunk on life to the point of sickness
they clasped one another,
pulling inward into half-hug back slaps,
and lit up their smokes with the flame that burned
on the end of their friend’s cigarette.

Listen to Benjamin read Pulling Inward HERE

Classified 2

Looking for the woman
from my dream last night.
Her eyes were the Cuyahoga River,
and her touch was
the first drop of unfrozen rain to fall on your shoulder
in the beginning of Spring.

Listen to Benjamin read Classified 2 HERE

code for the modern american

while (employed == false) {
resume.submit();
HBOSundayNight.watch();
worry.about(HOW_I_AM_GOING_TO_PAY_FOR_CABLE);
worry.about(HOW_LONG_I_WILL_STILL_HAVE_A_HOUSE);
ingest(ANYTHING_I_CAN_GET_MY_HANDS_ON_TO_EASE_THE_PAIN_OF_NO_
LONGER_FEELING_AS_IF_I_AM_WORTH_MORE_THAN_WHAT_CAN_FIT_ON_AN_EIGHT
_AND_A_HALF_BY_ELEVEN_INCH_PIECE_OF_PAPER_WITH_ONE_INCH_MARGINS);
sleep.with(NIGHTMARES_OF_MEN_IN_SUITS_CHASING_ME_BRANDISHING_BLACK
BERRY_PHONES);
}

Benjamin C. Krause was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at age 21, but finished college and now works on and off as a web designer. His work has appeared in Calliope Nerve, fourpaperletters, and others. He edits and publishes the poetry site The Weekly Poet and is Editor-in-Chief of Diamond Point Press, a small press that produces the semiannual print journal Muscle & Blood and Chapbooks for Charity, a website that raises money for various charities by selling e-chapbooks. His latest project, Liebamour, features psychedelic art and writing.