settlement

Fine Art Series
I’m divorcing my dogs
Cooper and Stella
other dogs abound
but they’re not mine
we don’t know each other
in every glance and move
how to lie together
studied harmony
give and get
warmth and grace
absolute acceptance
these are our last days
an unintended consequence
of my personal global warming
inexorable tectonics long denied
now made manifest
it has taken so long
for deep movements
to become inescapable
where I live up here
on land
I had to step lively
or be consumed
in a fissure so deep and wide
I am amazed I called it
by a different name
for so many years
pretending it was a landscape feature
improvable with dirt bulbs mulch
so I’ll be here for my dogs
while they remain for me
I’m breaking eggs
an omelet for their kibble
to soothe the agony to come
they will adapt much better
faster than I
as they focus more on what is new
than what was lost
when I divorced my dogs

BIO: Tom Weiss

I grew up on a cattle ranch on the eastern margin of The Everglades in an area that is now suburban Ft. Lauderdale. Having attended boys boarding schools from the second grade through high school likely twisted my psyche; but, I seem to write mostly love poems, so there you go.

I moved to Knoxville in 1974 intending to stay a year, and I’ve been here ever since, so it looks like I’m here to stay.

I spent a lifetime toiling in commercial real estate management and development until the pandemic retired me kicking and screaming, kindly allowing me to come out of the literary closet. My publishing history extends all the way back to December 2021. Nine poems have been published in four journals to date as I’m also working on my short fiction voice. Appearing in this journal with these remarkable photographers is a waking wet dream.

Tom Weiss

2614 Fairmont Blvd.

Knoxville, TN 37917

thomaslynnweiss@gmail.com

865.607.5500

 

BIO: Bootsy Holler

Holler is based in Los Angeles but spent most of her life in Washington State.  Her art revolves around, emotions, memory eco-feminism, nature, and giving feeling to the inanimate.  Holler’s images have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and publications around the world. Her seminal work from the Seattle music scene is in the permanent collection of the Grammy Museum.  In 2020 she was invited to exhibit at the Shanghai International Photo Festival and Fotofever in Paris. In 2019 she published her second monograph TREASURES: objects I’ve known all my life and is currently working on a new book.