Unlikely 2.0


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Editors' Notes

Maria Damon and Michelle Greenblatt
Jim Leftwich and Michelle Greenblatt
Sheila E. Murphy and Michelle Greenblatt

A Visual Conversation on Michelle Greenblatt's ASHES AND SEEDS with Stephen Harrison, Monika Mori | MOO, Jonathan Penton and Michelle Greenblatt

Letters for Michelle: with work by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Jeffrey Side, Larry Goodell, mark hartenbach, Charles J. Butler, Alexandria Bryan and Brian Kovich

Visual Poetry by Reed Altemus
Poetry by Glen Armstrong
Poetry by Lana Bella
A Eulogic Poem by John M. Bennett
Elegic Poetry by John M. Bennett
Poetry by Wendy Taylor Carlisle
A Eulogy by Vincent A. Cellucci
Poetry by Vincent A. Cellucci
Poetry by Joel Chace
A Spoken Word Poem and Visual Art by K.R. Copeland
A Eulogy by Alan Fyfe
Poetry by Win Harms
Poetry by Carolyn Hembree
Poetry by Cindy Hochman
A Eulogy by Steffen Horstmann
A Eulogic Poem by Dylan Krieger
An Elegic Poem by Dylan Krieger
Visual Art by Donna Kuhn
Poetry by Louise Landes Levi
Poetry by Jim Lineberger
Poetry by Dennis Mahagin
Poetry by Peter Marra
A Eulogy by Frankie Metro
A Song by Alexis Moon and Jonathan Penton
Poetry by Jay Passer
A Eulogy by Jonathan Penton
Visual Poetry by Anne Elezabeth Pluto and Bryson Dean-Gauthier
Visual Art by Marthe Reed
A Eulogy by Gabriel Ricard
Poetry by Alison Ross
A Short Movie by Bernd Sauermann
Poetry by Christopher Shipman
A Spoken Word Poem by Larissa Shmailo
A Eulogic Poem by Jay Sizemore
Elegic Poetry by Jay Sizemore
Poetry by Felino A. Soriano
Visual Art by Jamie Stoneman
Poetry by Ray Succre
Poetry by Yuriy Tarnawsky
A Song by Marc Vincenz


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Two Poems by Jonathan Penton

Poem Written Inside a McDonald's Within a Wal-Mart

"I had to pull off the road," he told me. "I was so excited, so happy. All at once, I realized that eventually, everyone I hated was going to die."

And i thought that our love would live forever
     so i write a poem to wish it good-bye
          and this paper will crumble, the words forgotten
               the hard drive deleted, the Internet obsoleted
                    the electrons rendered inert

The institutions that bring you such power, such terror
won't be a footnote in an unremembered text
While the gods of your forefathers remain immortal as long as your fantasies stay naif
                                                                                     ah, but you were never a naif


still i believe you are holy
     that the holy and the unholy die
          that nothing that dies is unholy

and i believe you have power
     to reach everything that's long since gone
          to embrace what will happen tomorrow

and if these beliefs leave me grasping
     for fantasies my mind will reject
          i'll treat this wal-mart as something greater than myself
               and pretend human failures can have historical context




Pale of Calais

If parts of our love are true
we are still both liars
as was every charming prince who sullied our dark names
and if Beauty is something real
we will still die ugly
finally forgetting our glory and our shame

So let us not pretend that mortal love is Holy
or that this blessing of our union makes it perfect
and let us not retreat into the fantasies we share
lest close attention reveal them as the little things they are

Darling, we have learned
of the wars within and without us
we know that victory is something none can justly claim
So let us learn to make love with the darkling plain;
It's the only love we have left



Jonathan Penton forged UnlikelyStories.org in the fires of Mount Doom, and into it poured his hatred, cruelty, and will to dominate. You can read some more deliberate misdirection at his bio page, or something barely more authentic at Jonathan.UnlikelyStories.org.