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there's a single photo
that i never
deleted though i promised i would
a stupid pic you said
which you
almost didn't send at all
taken with a remote cable release
while you painted
your toenails in a bright vermilion hue
knees tucked up under your chin
heels dug firmly
into the mattress
and your hair down over your face hiding
your expression altogether
as you held the tiny brush
between your thumb and forefinger
the sheet arranged in ivory folds beneath a blur
of yellow panties
and in the background the burnished glow
of a stained-glass window
lending to every element an aspect of repose
as if to say there is nothing sexual to any of this
which perhaps was true but why then
of all the others
is this the one i saved of you

Bio: James Lineberger is a professional playwright and screenwriter. He was Playwright in Residence at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis for three seasons. His rock opera, THE SURVIVAL OF SAINT JOAN, was developed at the Buffalo Studio Arena, and the production transferred to Broadway. His screen adaptation for Twentieth Century Fox film of the Devery Freeman novel FATHER SKY was filmed as TAPS.

His poems have appeared in a number of online zines, and in the following print publications: Berkeley Poetry Review; Exquisite Corpse; Hanging Loose; Hayden’s Ferry Review; New York Quarterly; Ontario Review; Oxford Magazine;Pembroke Magazine; Prairie Schooner; Snake Nation Review; Sonora Review; The New Laurel Review and Verse.

lineberger bio photo

James Lineberger currently has eight volumes of poetry and a full-length play available here:

Previously published at Mannequin Envy:

Dancing with Hart Crane

He didn't let on
he was
a poet but do they ever do they
even in bed
what he said what he did say was watch
this and in the middle of The Blue
Danube
he waltzed away from me
with his eyes closed and backed off the ledge
into the pool which had been drained
did he know that who knows and covered with a tarp stretched
over it so no one would fall in
and hurt
himself but dumb me leave it to me oh God
I said are you hurt and he was floating on his back in waves
of black canvas with his arms and legs
spread out like he was still
falling and he giggled like a girl
saying
hurt hurt you syphilitic cunt can't
you see
it fucking hurts all over

James Lineberger

scott odom artwork

"Give Me Liberty, Or Give MeSpartanburg" Scott Odom

"Volitility" by Theresa Pfarr

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