I. Thomas Shipp                                         

tonight the sky dies       
a swell and split kind of death

heaven be a crowded tenement building
holding a flood back

crashing against the safest block
washing away the tallest of gates     

tonight i will swing
by the crook of my neck

above land   
that will not cover me                     

will become a dead thing fixed in the air
i will be a star

my momma will salt the earth        
with the sea of herself

the body of the crowd boils                   
which turns into mist                            

lost in the star lit sky
one day will come crashing down          

II. Abram Smith

yet i’m looking for my teeth
which makes me forgetful a fair trade

or just unlucky i suppose
drowning while everyone watches

i try and escape
and they break my wings

lost in the leash of
my own undoing


and on to
safety

like my savior
a beacon of

summoning
a lost love

burning hate from my bones
filling the sky a new black

where can i go
now that i have lost my wings

III. James Cameron

yet i still have my tongue
a fair trade

i suppose
i’m

the prayer
forever

praising mercy
fortissimo

blood
withheld

i was told
hope is

an angel
living in

like a new eden
an inclusive heaven

where my brothers wish
to hold me