Unshod Quills

Photo: Jianjue bu zou! (We Refuse To Leave!) Bjorn Wahlstrom, on "When We Two Parted."

Poetry and photography by  Shanghai’s Björn Wahlström 

I Look At You Shanghai

– When We Two Parted

Shanghai, April 2011

I look at you Shanghai. I look at you, you look away.

But mind you Shanghai, this is not a love song,
and fuck the broken hearted,
you know what you did to lose what you had,
you all do, as do I.

You gave me everything Shanghai, all you had to offer,
a billion RMB in an LV man-bag, prime real estate in Lujiazui, an uncle in politics,
and a mink mini-skirt on a late night Mint massacre.

That’s right, I know you Shanghai.

I’d race along your gaojia at approaching midnight,
drink and drive from Puxi to Gotham City,
drink and fuck whoever with an ever numbing sense of self-pity,
as M. closes at two,
I’d spend hours on hands and knees by the Jiangpu,
drinking from your veins Shanghai,
as you would want it,
as you demand that I do,
you dirty beautiful whore, you
pulled my head down by the hair, down under the surface,
and refused to let me die.

I look at you Shanghai, and you look away.

In stars and pearls you dress yourself,
my darling mistress of 2008, back when I owned you,
that’s right Shanghai I owned you, I fucking owned you,
and you loved it how i I’d treat you like a slut back then,
I’d do whatever and you’d follow,
I still found the green alleys of the French Concession charming back then,
I’d text you and you’d join, your own plans instantly over board,
summer evening strolls,
no worries, no panties,
always on the first date, and always closing.

Back then I was mean to you Shanghai, and you never said a word. It goes to your credit.

I look at you Shanghai. You look away.

I cry in Jing’an, but I get wasted in the French Concession,
with all the other 10 million homeless people here,
like all the other secretly exiled poor fucks here,
tequila to forget and drugs for the pain,
pints for the wicked and wine bars for the vain,

Shanghai, you keeper of tabs, you high roller; shine you crazy diamond.

Shine.

I look at you Shanghai, I look at you but I have no idea what you are thinking Shanghai, right now in this moment, right here in this forgotten shitty bar on Wuning Lu where I happen to be now in early 2011,
our fling long gone,
dust and dirty tap water,
rust and 9-5 to no good end.

You see I loved you those first years, I did
I just didn’t understand you, I didn’t know how to show it.

Whatever.

You wear a fashionably short evening gown tonight,
and I was the one who helped you with the zipper in the back, Shanghai, only to see that beautiful back walk away.
That sounds sad, but to you it’s just another bottom line.

I look at you Shanghai and I imagine
that your eyes have a secret warmth for me,
black hole suns for the homeless, a tiny bit of
hot burning love for me, “real” feelings for me, ha!

I look at you Shanghai. You look away.

This is not a rant

Shanghai

you crazy bitch, you lovely creature you,

This is a

requiem.

Author Biography

Born sometime in late 70s Stockholm, Sweden, Björn Wahlström  is editor and co-founder of HAL Publications. A sometime writer, he’s a promoter of China based literature, including his own.

After a six year stint in sinologist academia Bjorn became a corporate stooge in 2005, two years after first moving to China. Despite this severe digression, he maintained his interest in the arts and is a passionate patron and promoter of the literary scene in Shanghai, having conceived and founded the city’s most popular English based writers’ group.

His creative writing is colored by a peculiar insight into China, and  by his broad familiarity of Western and Eastern philosophy. Bursts of cynical laowaisims (read: foreignerisms) are tempered with a genuine appreciation and understanding of China, a sane madman in a crazy land. Bjorn is a member of the Unshod Quills Writers Collective.

Two poems from hobo James H. Duncan.

Reflections

– on mirrors

now I pace the highway like a real ghost might
tipping the flask to my lips one last time
a quick shot of relief and then down into drive,
a shift, a release of the wheel

in the dark I cannot tell how the bed becomes a highway slab
my eyes never know, they flutter under skin
paper thin to the moon, reflecting now against my
pavement blood,  remembering my
knees against the backs of your long gone legs
wishing for reflection in the traffic headlight drone

JD

12 gauges of remorse

– on When We Two Parted

silence stains the lonely shoes
worn before the soul fell through

cat’s eye wallpaper, honest, peeling,
ever so slight of hand

a flick of the belt and a hush
from the stair, as the moon hides beyond

candle-lit nebulous reasons fly
from the roof into tomorrow’s tomorrow

reality is a loaded shotgun starry
night, hung beside the mirror on the wall

triggers painted red and a cat’s eye reeling,
ever so slight of hand

JD

Author Biography

James H Duncan is a tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure. The editor of Hobo Camp Review, James considers himself a student of the road, where you’ll find him in late-night diners, local dive bars, and wandering train station platforms minding his own business. Apt, Red Fez, Reed Magazine, Slipstream, Poetry Salzburg Review, and The Battered Suitcase, among many others, have welcomed his work. More here.

Unshod Quills’  first featured artist, Las Vegas, Nevada photographer Eva Steil shoots here
on lipstick, mirrors, beasts and When We Two Parted.

Please click each photo once, and then again on the following page, to see in greater detail.

Eva Steil, "Liets." Photo taken January 12th, 1989 in Atlanta, Georgia. On the theme of mirrors.

"Liets 2." Eva Steil on the theme of mirrors

"Eve 2" - self portrait of Eva Steil on the theme "When We Two Parted"

"Lip Blotter," Eva Steil. On the theme of Lipstick

"Tara in Fur," Eva Steil. On the theme of beasts

Artist Biography

Eva Steil is a Las Vegas based photographer best known for at once intricate and stark self portraits and for her portraits of other artists. Eva utilizes digital photography, but the bulk of her work has been done on film, and she continues to work in this medium today. A member of the Unshod Quills Writer Collective, Eva also writes poetry and lyrics. Eva wants to make your art gallery a Ground Zero for an exhibit. She can be found here.

Anthony Bondi on "When We Two Parted"

On the topic of Beasts - Anthony Bondi

On the topic of lisptick - Anthony Bondi

On the theme of sonnets - Anthony Bondi

Artist Biography

Anthony Bondi is a Las Vegas, Nevada based artist who has focused on using digital imaging technology to make collages addressing the unique character of Las Vegas.  Repurposing imagery through collage led to repurposing industrial products in large scale interactive art pieces for Burning Man. This process led to the Tickle-Me-Tunnel, a tactile-rich interactive children’s toy. It is available for purchase through Amazon and other sources.  www.anthonybondi.com  Contact Anthony via Facebook. Anthony is a member of the Unshod Quills Writers Collective.

Jason Mashak, formerly of Portland, Oregon, but currently of Prague, reflects on the theme of “When We Two Parted.”

MEMORY OF THE IMAGINATION

I remember when we used to suck face
Just thinking about it I lit my match
Before taking out a cigarette

You were like one
The way your smell stayed on my fingers
Your taste on my tongue

We sucked face for hours
Sucked away the minutes with our faces
In cafes and stairways, parks, passages, and pubs
Our faces were never unsucked

I remember like it was yesterday
And the day before and the days before that
Even after we parted

It was like our faces went on sucking without us
Sometimes we’d eat, drink, bathe or fuck between sucks
Our tongues part of everything

When the smoke clears, you remain
Nowhere to be found

Author Biography

Jason Mashak (b.1973) is a Michigan native who lived in Georgia, Tennessee, and Oregon before a strategic self-exile to Prague, Czech Republic, in 2006. Father of two small mostly Slovak daughters, he devotes his time to daddyhood and writes primarily during his daily work commute. Haggard & Halloo (Austin, TX) published Mashak’s first book of poems, Salty as a Lip, in 2010 (the 1st edition sold out, an expanded 2nd edition is forthcoming). His writing can be found in numerous journals and anthologies, including a few in Czech translation.

The Poetry of Andrew Hall

Emily Dickinson’s Fanboy Flirtation

– on When We Two Parted

I will tell you how the sun rose
And continued for a spell
Unleashing into sirens–
Softly warning us

Of tornado bombs not distant–
From interspatial strife
The history is resealed
When we unclose our eyes

AH

Johnny Guitar

– on Transportation

There they do a little dance
of evil and good while
the women duke it out for power
same old story we blow each other up
fighting for the crumbs not noticing
the empty space and barriers before us
we could destroy everything in a flourish
& think nothing of it… we could have sweet tea
on the porch while the children
bloody each other up on the field oh lovely
sunshine tell us what to do break out your song
you load yours I load mine
& we shall dance til’ we hit the floor.

AH

Author Biography

Andy Hall is a graduate of UNLV, earned an MA at Northern Arizona University, an MFA at Antioch and is currently working on a PhD in English Studies  at Illinois State University.  He has competed on 3 National Poetry Slam teams, and has performed poetry, stand-up comedy, music and performance art primarily in Las Vegas since 1991. Andrew Hall is a member of the Unshod Quills Writers Collective.