Circuit. by John Greiner

Between masturbation

and the first martini

all of the heartaches

    and horrors

that come and cover

the face of the earth,

between Queens

and Manhattan

and then back

to Queens again

the river and all

the sinking ferries,

skulls and subways

shifting lost bodies

    of ecstasy

to end in anxiety,

between the epic act

and the bang

that hits the head

    and hails

the dark cosmos

is this, the something

to say that falls short,

is this, the kick,

that sends the planet

into frenzied spin.

John Greiner is a Pushcart Prize nominated writer living in Queens, NY. He was educated at the New School for Social Research.  Greiner's work has appeared in Sand, Empty Mirror, Sensitive Skin, Unarmed, Street Valueand numerous other magazines. His chapbooks, broadsides and collections of poetry and short stories includeTurnstile Burlesque (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2017), The Laundrymen(Wandering Head Press, 2016), Bodega Roses (Good Cop/Bad Cop Press, 2014),Modulation Age (Wandering Head Press, 2012), Shooting Side Glances(ISMs Press, 2011) and Relics From a Hell’s Kitchen Pawn Shop (Ronin Press, 2010).