Alan Catlin

ISBN 978-1-929878-53-6 162 pages, 6 X 9 inches, Trade Paper

By Alan Catlin

“Let’s ride the angels goodbye.” —Jack Micheline

Just before the bar war to end all bar wars, the girl with an unbreakable heart leaned over the bar, ripped the buttons off her shirt and said, “I don’t need no ink or silicone to prove I’m a 100% Grade A American Babe.” The way she said it seemed more like a statement of fact than an offer or a dare: regardless, no one was inclined to disagree. So the barman was thinking, momentarily distracted before the overhead rail lights were pulled down, long neck Buds hit the back bar bottles and wall to wall chaos ensued: a flash flood of violence taking out everything in its way. If this were an indie movie all these bodies in motion would be slowed to half speed, made into a grotesque ballet, a techno Rave with flickering lights momentarily revealing distorted faces, flexing muscles, a strange, almost beautiful, mise en scene only a 911 call could interrupt, could make complete, with police whistles, drawn truncheons, and Taser light shows; but it wasn’t a movie, only something like real life. Hours after, the blood dries on the hardwood floors, the click of the muted jukebox cycling most played songs, priming the invisible crowds, and an almost suffocating rush of forced wet air as the lifeless night turns into day. The last man standing behind the bar sips his bottomless pint, and cut glass shots, through a short straw, dulled pains slowly ebbing into an alcoholic daze. — Alan Catlin

This is the last print edition for this anthology. I'm getting old and confused and I need to take a break from publishing for a while. Haven't decided whether or not I'll come back to it (I do enjoy putting out a good book - it's just all the other B.S. that goes with each project). In any case, this last issue has over one hundred poets in it; nearly twenty artists featured; an interview with Basia Miller, a poet from Santa Fe, NM who's had a very interesting life; the winners of the Angela Consolo Mankiewicz Poetry Contest (Canadian John B. Lee, Americans Elaine Mintzer and Alexis Fancher); rounded out with essays and stories, including an essay on poet Tony Moffiet by John Macker. If you enjoy poetry, Lummox 9 gives you a wide perspective of the state of the art, here in the small press. I believe there's something for everyone. View on Issuu https://issuu.com/poetraindog/docs/lummox9e-book

Last Man Standing

By Alan Catlin

Lummox 9

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