Michael Haeflinger
I’ve done cartwheels over subway cars,
spotted rashes on pocketed handkerchiefs,
tanned the daylight, ground
the sky into manure / I’ve
lit the match on the wood end,
forced it through the bottom
of the candle, pedaled
with my hands, steered with my nose
and fell over, once into a streetsign,
once, a guitar broke
my fall / I’ve coasted the Brown Line
hanging on a lawn chair, ate
at a dinner table on the S42,
brought a van load from Cincy
to D-Town to Illinoise to Leipzig
to Berlin and I could unload six more /
I’ve put more quarters in jukeboxes
than Fountain Square, burned
twenty-four hours with the blink
of somebody else’s eye,
ridden a horse backwards
into town, gave up on mountains
but reconsidered ocean,
chopsticked public parks, pierced
hundreds of unpopable eggs, dirt
sledded over calendar pages, broke
bones to pass time, I’ve crept across
traffic faster than others walked /
stopped myself with calves,
went over the bar at people
walking by, counted all
the ankles in the world, twice,
spanked the lunch
out of a dog, pushed a cat
around while sleeping,
played the same song twice,
used lots of names in vain /
I’ve made omelets of couch
cushions and mints / I’ve unscrewed
the light bulbs in the sun
and shook them for signs of life /
I’ve cleaned my fingernails
with ink, black
and blue / let it be heard /
let it be heard, o! /
let it be heard
 
 
 

Chris Toll
A budget analyst
cleats the blues
and pleats the lies
that dress the pie chart
who plots to murder me.
My shopping mall
stands on a bridge
and studies the heedless river.
Three chords knock me down
and three chords pick me up.
 
 
 
+++
Get the chapbook I’m Having Some Shape-Shifting Problems below.
 
 

We’ve quietly published a little chapbook series (“big package, mini chaps”) for a couple years now… They’re self-binding books made from one sheet of paper with this “folded eight” technique that’s downright magic. We always wanted to share them on the web — but couldn’t find a way to give proper instruction. Hopefully the below is a start. Without further ado, snag yourself Chris Toll’s great chap from the link. Print. Fold. Enjoy. Get I’m Having Some Shape-Shifting Problems (659k) Note: Turn off the “fit to margins” setting (if your machine defaults to that) when you print it out… or it will fold all wrong. Speaking of which:

How To Make Chris Toll’s Book at Home

We’ll start rolling out the back catalog soon… so look out for chaps and mini-comics from Greg Fuchs, Dan Nester, and more.

Come celebrate the release of homme de Narrow House Justin Sirois’ new book, Secondary Sound, at the i.e. reading series this Saturday (March 1) where he’ll read with a couple Rock Heals faves — Gina Myers and Ken Rumble.
Here’s a link to the i.e. reading series site for more info.
Here’s a link to buy the book at Target(!) because we love that you can buy Secondary Sound from Target… but you should probably go to the publisher’s site for it (BlazeVox) and follow it’s link to Amazon. Then Geoffrey will get a cut(?) and use the dough to put out more great books.
Here’s a blurb on Justin’s book — take that search engines!
An absurdist media firm hires a pirate to “create the most alluring ringtone known to man” – while the author takes a secondary role as this digital scallywag plunders and pillages his way through the book’s vexing text messages. Presumably the first manuscript of both poems and fiction to be licensed with creative commons, Secondary Sound questions the legal limits of electronic sampling, asks why zombies and pirates are so in vogue, and pushes the limits of poetry (and hopefully makes it fun again).
&nbps;
 

not by Lisa Jarnot
Oh, turkey machines
Beside small Detroit.
Oh, three squirrels
Like turkeys I love you.
Okay, I’ll _______
On the _________