Three poems by Alec Kowalcyzk

For the Discriminating Smoker

It is a common looking cigarette lighter,
but when the cover is flipped
and the lever is flicked,
a crucifix is ejected,
pierced with butane jets,
and the cross burns ...

+++++++++++++++++++

Woven Irons

you have this idea that if you relax positively / if you unwind yourself to the utmost / you can break down the molecular bonds / that bind your body as a whole / you can truly achieve pure freedom

accordingly / you stretch in the comfort of your recliner / relieving your mind of all worldly affairs / waiting to seize the moment - that fleeting window of opportunity / that blurred boundary barely separating the sleeping from the sentient

suddenly you sense it / you swirl toward a maelstrom of unconsciousness / tipping over the edge like a timber - sinking into the bottomless shaft of sleep / it is then - at that explicit moment - with keen concentration / you begin to experience sudden bodiless consciousness / you feel free as ...

it is at that precise moment that a sound from outside / the sound of shoe soles newly repaired but not broken in / slip-slapping the sidewalk / redirecting your attention / commanding your thoughts so strongly / that even though you can't see them outside / you know they bear the 'Cat's Paw' trademark ...

the sound of the traveling footprints is now long gone / the recliner remains visibly empty of its occupant / but if he still had vocal cords - which he does not / you would surely hear the screams / of one who remains inextricably and molecularly bound / ... forever ... / ensnared in the weave of the recliner's upholstery

====================

MirrorriM

I had                       dah I
the oddest             tseddo eht
feeling looking   gnikool gnileef
into the                 eht otni
mirror                     rorrim


I felt                    tlef I
the other              rehto eht
was observing      gnivresbo saw
me                            em


and I                     I dna
was the                 eht saw
image                     egami

Author bio:

Alec B Kowalczyk is a native of South Troy, New York, a civil engineer by day, with an interest in the mechanics of poetry. His work has been published in The Feathertale Review, Black Petals, ChiZine, The Horror Zine, Pif Magazine, Semaphore Magazine, Versal, Yellow Mama and others, winning a Dark Animus award for poetry. Snark Publishing released his chapbook Shadow and Substance. Most recently some of his work can be found in Jeani Rector's anthology Twice the Terror and, forthcoming, in Jennifer Bowles' The Medulla Review Anthology.