(Archive) Mid-Week Feature: Susan Solomon & Alex Stolis

from A Cabal of Angels

"Wings vs Sky"
Tabbris; Angel of Self Determination

What will be left after you have truly gone: the frayed
end of a thread from your sweater; a bare bulb flickering
in the closet; a dog-eared book with a coffee stained cover?
There is no past. I’ll pick now to remember what it was like;
the scent of rosewater and wood smoke, the rumble of wings
against sky as I watch you tie back your hair. There is no such
thing as forgiveness or second chances. I’d rather drink to sin;
picture you at the end of the bar, hair shorn, legs crossed high
ready to start a revolution

"Confetti field"
Colopatiron; Angel of Liberation

We talk about ghosts while the moon possums in the sky. 
It is still; the kind of stillness right before a thunderstorm 
or a car crash. We’re sitting on the swings; the playground 
overlooks the baseball diamond. Colored paper and matches
confetti the infield; shreds from spent bottle-rockets and fire
crackers. Longneck Budweiser’s mark first second third base 
and home. The only light left is a lone firefly. You’ve dyed 
your hair; skin, white as cuttlefish bones. Tell me your first 
wish was the smoothest stone ever skipped across water; 
how you felt yourself drown in each ripple and wave.

Susan Solomon is a freelance, poem-painting artist living in St. Paul, MN. She is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and is also the editor and cartoonist for Sleet Magazine, an online literary journal.

Alex Stolis lives in Minneapolis; he has had poems published in numerous journals. His chapbook based on the last words of Texas Death Row inmates, Justice for all, is forthcoming from Conversation Paperpress (UK).Without Dorothy, There is No Going Home is also forthcoming from ELJ Publications. Most recent releases include an e-chapbook, From an iPod found in Canal Park; Duluth, MN, from Right Hand Pointing and John Berryman is Dead from White Sky e-books He has been the recipient of five Pushcart Nominations.

A Cabal of Angels is available now from Red Bird Chapbooks.