Finnegan’s Wake

By Alex Stolis

᠅

At the resolution of a funeral
we decide to go to Frankie’s
on Ninth.

They’ve got the best tap beer,
Finnegan loves the juke & mostly—
Antigone the bartender.

There’s a running bet, is that her
real name or not—Finnegan doesn’t care.
She’s rail thin, hair to her waist.

Chain smokes Pall Malls & can
drink most of us under the table.
We pile in for the wake dressed

in our best. New jeans, shirts tucked
& all the manners we can muster
between us.

Antigone nods & starts setting up
drinks. She’s a machine.
Sexy-cool efficiency.

Finnegan pumps the juke full of silver.
Jocko racks the table.
Antigone sets up round two.

We raise our glasses & bottles
to toast the honored dead.
Hail & cheer & lie.

Finnegan looks at Antigone.
She looks back.
The room gets louder.

The two of them.
Still.
Quiet.

Antigone winks, slides
her number across the bar—
sets up another round.

᠅

Alex Stolis has had poems published in numerous journals. His chapbook, Postcards from the Knife-Thrower's Wife, was released by Louisiana Literature Press in 2024, RIP Winston Smith from Alien Buddha Press 2024, and The Hum of Geometry; The Music of Spheres, 2024 by Bottlecap Press. He lives in Hudson Valley of New York with his partner, poet Catherine Arra.

Reunion of Burnt Offerings

By Marilyn Close

᠅

At the resolution of a funeral
deafened by roar of fire between them
they sit cooking stew together –
feeding on proteins of mutual trauma.

Family tree roots burn to expose cinders.
A thousand twitching nerves like rope
once-shared blankets left dirty on the line.
Salt residue cracks in tear ducts.

᠅

Marilyn Close is an emerging poet and CNF writer with a limited but growing portfolio. Her poetry has previously appeared online with Chainmail Poetry and Off Topic Publishing. She volunteers with Tower Poetry Society (Canada) and has been printed in their anthologies.