deleted passages of his computer diary
+++came back       like flowers
on
a plastic gravestone, resting in peace    beneath the telephone.

Justin Wade Thompson

Justin Wade Thompson lives in a trailer park, in Austin, Texas, with his wife and cats. His poetry has appeared in Evergreen Review, Gutter Eloquence, Full of Crow, and numerous online and print magazines.

Bees die while charging towards light
Flies survive by fleeing into darkness
What, what
If the empty bottle rotates?

Changming Yuan

Changming Yuan, two-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009), grew up in rural China, lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has published poetry in Barrow Street, Best Canadian Poetry, London Magazine, and others.

This issue of the journal features poetry and artwork by Linda Albert, Damian Balassone, Keisha J. Benjamin, Ivo Drury, Andy Durrenberger, Julie Engel, Gabriel Gadfly, Nancy Hatch Woodward, Brenda Jordan, Denise Sandra Kenny, Ed  Markowski, Sally Mercer, Rich Murphy, Irene Ros, Elisabeth Saul, Toby Speed, David Svenson, Justin Wade Thompson, Jason Tobin, Robert Vaughan, Neal Whitman, and Changming Yuan.

A new issue of Four and Twenty is released the third Tuesday of each month. The next issue of the journal will be released on September 21, 2010.

Mid-August

We sat on the warm brick stoop
Digging X’s with our fingernails
into fresh mosquito bites
waiting for a breeze.

It strengthened her soul
Like a rain that never ends
Until clouds rolled in

Nancy Sollosi of Jamestown, North Carolina, is a contributing author in They That Go down to the Sea and Just Between Us, poetry and prose anthologies published by Old Mountain Press.

Cracked glass and bee juice
Dripping denim honey pocket
One serving of entropy
Bought wholesale at the farmer’s market

Tom Thumb is an occasional poet who currently lives in Austin, Texas. This is his second poem published by Four and Twenty. His writing can be found at tomthumbsruse.blogspot.com.

Spine arched, paws cupped,
claws curled, mind manic,
with hoary, oiled fur; with appetite
it pilfers the odd orange seed.

Glistening on morning sidewalks, horizontal glitter
Dropped where midnight party animals wandered,
Clues to earthly homes,
Or merely snail trails?

Susan Springer Munger, retired college administrator, is a widely unpublished author of business articles, radio broadcasts, memoirs, poems, and a fun murder novel. Writers in the Grove (Forest Grove, Oregon) is her weekly support group.

VCR

I think 12:00 machines
12:00
enjoy 12:00 taunting me.

Karen Stromberg is fond of the micro poem, flash fiction, and the 10-minute play. Her fiction can be found at Qarrtsiluni and The Pedestal Magazine. She has received two Pushcart nominations.

Faded tan-lines on my toes
Remind me of our last night in Cuba
In bed, hurricane winds raged around us

Tracy Fenner

Other poetry by Tracy Fenner is featured in the current issue (May 2010• Volume 3 • Issue 5) of the journal.