letter for tia

     on hearing bruce springsteen’s “spirits in the night”

that was our emblem
we wore it
and tromped through
fermented wasteland drunk on our own cageless life force

until you finally committed yourself to religion
unable to float that conflicted soul
over harborers of fiction

in a space which stole breath
left winds unchallenged
boxed the horizon
my limbs restricted

after the tattoo faded like a purple bruise
we cajoled
yet found no solace
in our separate howling

appeared in Serving_Suggestion

Slipstream reviews with
michael baskinski

• Number 20. 2000
• Number 21. 2001

     Dan Sicoli (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) is co-founder and co-editor of Slipstream Magazine & Press, now in its 22nd year of publishing. His poetry has appeared in numerous litmags, e-zines, anthologies, and audio poetics cassette tapes including Chiron Review, All Shook Up: Collected Poems About Elvis, Sheila-Na-Gig, Bathtub Gin, Disquieting Muses, Nerve Cowboy, Spoken War, Flower Thief, Zero City, Prose Ax, Erosha, American Contemporary Headcheese, and Alpha Beat Soup. In 1999, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

      As a life-long resident of the working class neighborhoods of Niagara Falls, NY, Dan has worked in a variety of vocations including baker, district sales manager, letter carrier, housing coordinator, printer, cheese packer, and rhythm guitar player. He also makes his own sausage.

other online publications:

Disquieting Muses:
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli1.html
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli2.html
Thunder Sandwich:
• http://www.thundersandwich.com/ts12/sicoli.html
Stirring
Bulkhead
Naked Poetry
Erosha

• messageboard feedback •