dennis scharnberg

“Do not offer advice, Desmond. Not ever. Not to anyone, at any time. Not a soul!”

Chase Tipton, Enjoying Prison Pizza.

He tried hard,

He tried soft.

He sits now, sulking,

In a loft.

E. E. Bynum, A Thump on the Head (and Other Poems).

“I don’t want anything, Carla. Do you hear me? I do not want.”

Allison Cowling, Night of the Detective.

Edgar was never quite able to make contact—at least not consistently—with what Mr. Cathcart often referred to as the “firmness” of reality.

Nicholas Bruhns, Otto the Magpie.

“He soon became fascinated—maybe even obsessed—with that thing I was telling you about, Reggie. That ‘property’ of the numeral three.”

Hollis Beddoes, Counting the Magpies.

Cook up sausage in

a frying pan, listen to

music of Manfred Mann.

Visit a storefront

and buy a tan, then scrub your

world till it’s spic and span.

E. E. Bynum, A Thump upon the Head (and Other Poems).

Argument is window dressing.

Godfrey Tooke, Collected Aphorisms.

“I am sorry, boys, but you have written a thoroughly stupid song.” After spending most of the morning shouting bitterly at the radio, Malcolm now adopted a somewhat ridiculous “reasonable” tone.

Jason Starling, ed., Adventures in Narrative Parsimony.

“But stories are not reality, Julia. Narratives aren’t real. Please tell me that you know this.”

Trent Bendix, Grieving for Margaret.

We know about the ancient Romans because of what the wind whispers.

Evan Amberol, A Theology of History.