Morning Rise

Syringes and orange juice
Start the day,
An early morning fix
To get through
The beggar morning.

Naught

I regret nothing,
that zero.
How could it intrude
into the world of numbers?
We would be in our prime
if I called the shots.
But nothing is there
under the bed
and in the closet.
It’s odd these days,
and the nights uneven,
all empty as a ghost
hungry to be there.

Joseph Farley edited Axe Factory from 1986 – 2010. His books and chapbooks include Suckers, For the Birds, Longing for the Mother Tongue, Her Eyes, and Labor Day. Labor Day, a novel, is being reissued in a special edition by Peasantry Press. Farley’s work has appeared recently in US 1 Worksheets, Home Planet News Online, Mad Swirl, Ygdrasil, and Horror Sleeze Trash.