Picasso’s Ear, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Catfish McDaris

Picasso’s Ear
by Catfish McDaris

Fever pleurisy syphilis
inglorious emaciated
hollow different faraway
rough burning always
displaced excluded omitted

Pablo Pablo Pablo.

SOURCE: “Picasso’s Ear” by Catfish McDaris is based on page 41 of Picasso Creator and Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (Simon & Schuster, 1988).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Catfish McDaris has been published widely, including The Louisiana Review, George Mason Univ.Press, New Coin from Rhodes University in South Africa, and several Silver Birch Press anthologies. He was contributing editor of Latino Stuff Review from Little Havana for 10 years. His 25 years of published material is in the Special Archives Collection at Marquette Univ. in Milwaukee.

Flight, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Cara Rosalie Olsen

Flight
by Cara Rosalie Olsen

the roar of certainty would win.
you liked to say that this was all make-believe.
but it was real now, every moment,
flying apart at last.
time is the fearsome island,
sometimes nothing
and sometimes beaten on with fists.
they don’t want us, he whispered, shuddering.
now he wakened her and sent her down to earth on an adventure.

SOURCE: “Flight” by Cara Rosalie Olsen is based on page 41 of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (Bantam Books, 1985).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cara Rosalie Olsen resides in sunny Southern California, where she lives with her very patient husband, Michael, and their spoiled pooch, Annabella. Awakening Foster Kelly, a Young Adult Contemporary, is Cara’s first novel, available at Amazon.com. Her second, Much as Funny Loves a Laugh is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2014. Her flash-fiction has been featured in Lightening Cake, & Hogglepot. If Cara wasn’t a full-time writer, she would have liked to join the cast of Saturday Night Live, or taken over as CEO of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Visit her at cararosalieolsen.com.

Strategy, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Karen Massey

Strategy
by Karen Massey

Appear weak and frightened,
no competition at all,
then come out fighting.

Seem like
a snivelling, cowardly fool —
turn out viciously
clever. Play it!

An odd strategy,
it will take an awful lot
to convince anyone.

Of course,
this is no ordinary
journey. Dig deep.

SOURCE: “Strategy” by Karen Massey is based on page 41 of The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, 2008).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Poet and artisan, Karen Massey lives in Ottawa, Canada. She has one chapbook, bullet, from above/ground press. Her work has received several prizes and has been published most recently online at ottawater.com, Bywords.com, Bukowski on Wry, and in varied print journals and anthologies including Decalogue: Ten Ottawa Poets (Chaudiere Books). One of her poems was on the long list for the 2012 geist.com Erasure Poem Contest.

Jar of Bad Pickles, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Wm. Todd King

Jar of Bad Pickles
by Wm. Todd King

Odd red-eye undertakers

say “Hello,”

flat drunk and

dying to meet you.

SOURCE: “Jar of Bad Pickles” by Wm. Todd King is based on page 41 of Chang & Eng by Darin Strauss (Dutton, 2000), available at Amazon.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wm. Todd King is a Poet and Regulatory Compliance Supervisor living in Kentucky. He is the recent finalist in the Found Poetry Review’s Dog Ear Poetry Contest, and a participant in 2013’s Pulitzer Remix project. His works have appeared in STILL, the Silver Birch Press NOIR Erasure Poetry Anthology, Life’s Vivid Creations, and Found Poetry Review.

Jimfoolery, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Stuart Barnes

Jimfoolery
by Stuart Barnes

flowers

, George

, all day long

SOURCE: “Jimfoolery” by Stuart Barnes is based on page 41 of A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stuart Barnes was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. His poems and creative non-fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in The Warwick Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Assaracus: A Journal of Gay Poetry, The Nervous Breakdown, Southerly Journal, Going Down Swinging, Out of Sequence: The Sonnets Remixed, Mascara Literary Review and Verity La, amongst others. He is poetry editor of Tincture Journal and can be followed on Twitter @StuartABarnes.

Perfection, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Candace Butler

PERFECTION
by Candace Butler

they went in search of purity
they commonly party several hours each morning
 
day and night
they battle weakness, confusion, and despair.
 
their sweet human absurdity
reached the North Pole
 
they must adapt to limitations
they must adapt to compromise
 
every move can carry eighteen years’ preparation
why not feel a little

SOURCE: “Perfection” by Candace Butler is based on page 41 Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters by Annie Dillard (HarperPerennial, 1982).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Candace Butler is a writer and artist living in her hometown of Sugar Grove, Virginia, a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. She is an MFA candidate at Antioch University of Los Angeles and is co-poetry editor of Lunch Ticket.

Swimming Home, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Scott Stoller

Swimming Home
by Scott Stoller

The boy becomes his father,
sneaking furtive walks before daylight,
smoking Burmas,
dreams of swimming home,
nothing to be gained
by pretending otherwise,
heaps curses on the rogues and idiots.
Everything is their fault,
right down to the fume soaked atmosphere
of their tiny cabin.

SOURCE: “Swimming Home” by Scott Stoller is based on page 41 of Absolute Friends by John LeCarré (Little Brown, 2003).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Scott Stoller’s work has appeared in many online and print journals and anthologies including Weave, decomP, Prick of the Spindle, and Best Contemporary Tanka. He’s a physician in the west suburbs of Chicago.

The Box, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Eric Otto

The Box
by Eric Otto

The familiar nerve
tightened and twanged.
He grew back a little, expected
stones to come flying out of the box,
could feel that this was something
different. But he just had to look inside.
 
He squinted in,
looked down at the water
nervously.

SOURCE: “The Box” by Eric Otto is based on page 41 of The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett (Ballantine, 1955,1974).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Eric Otto‘s poems have recently appeared in A Hundred Gourds, Red River Review, Scifaikuest, Stymie, Word Riot, and other places. Two of his poems received honorable mentions in The Found Poetry Review‘s 2013 Dog-Ear Poetry Contest. He is an associate professor of environmental humanities at Florida Gulf Coast University.

The accident, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Mathias Jansson

The accident
by Mathias Jansson

I have a headache
with pleasure
might go as far as delightful

it is somewhat sensational
these metallic problems

horrid horrid horrid
has just driven over the Albany

very much disappointed
anxious to speak
I suppose better talk to a room

SOURCE: “The accident” by Mathias Jansson is based on page 41 of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (CreateSpace, 2012).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mathias Jansson is a Swedish art critic and poet. He has been published in both Swedish and English speaking literature and visual poetry magazines as Lex-ICON, Eremonaut, RetortMagazine, Anatematiskpress, Presens, and Quarter After #4. Visit him at his homepage or Amazon author page.

The Holy War, April Fool’s Day Erasure Poem by Freda Butler

THE HOLY WAR
by Freda Butler 

All efforts having failed,
fervid terms without effect.
Unable to swerve the mind.

So much fashion, well read.
Single young lady must have had
the devil at her elbow.
Delicate fingers, affectionate speech.

I feel interested in you.
Immortality brought to light,
man’s destiny, indispensable heroic virtue.

Nine weeks passed,
driving him to no understanding of her.

All my efforts have hitherto failed.
Sentiments, induced clearly on paper
in writing you letters.

SOURCE: “The Holy War” by Freda Butler is based on page 41 of George Eliot: A Biography by Gordon S. Haight (Penguin, 1985).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Freda Butler is from Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains. She is surrounded by the beautiful Jefferson National Forest. Her favorite diversions are capturing moments in time via writing and photography, creating recipes for a future cookbook, visiting art museums, listening to music, and traveling.