Out of the first Monday of spring flows a fresh 2River, with poems by Mark DeFoe, Michelle Acker, Karla Huston, Lois P. Jones, Kevin Kinsella, Laurie MacDiarmid, Robert Manaster, Darren Morris, Jack Powers, Juanita Rey, Ron Riekki; and art by James Deeb.

It’s almost the first weekend of spring and thus time is nearing for a fresh issue of The 2River View. Meanwhile, like an early flower, here’s a teaser by

Mark DeFoe

Won’t You Please Help Tiffany the Tiny Pom-Pom Girl and Little Kevin the Quarterback with Their Expensive Operations

From snapshots taped to a collection jar
they smile.  We leave our quarter’s worth of hope
where we buy beer and smokes and gas the car.

On the way to our local friendly bar
their eyes, guileless and devouring, grope
at us from the altar of their Mason jar.

Sunday we barbequed, almost broke par.
Monday—there they are—those desperate folk
who crave our loose change when we gas the car—

Quick trip or Get ‘n Go—can’t let small things mar
our laughs, our profits, our plans—make us choke
on the guilt that seeps from a half-full jar.

Salesperson, plumber, trucker, software star—
no time for sorrow in a dusty jar.

Coming just around the corner to 2River is the 19.3 (Spring 2015) issue of The 2River View, with new poems by Michelle Acker, Mark Defoe, Karla Huston, Lois Jones, Kevin Kinsella, Laurie MacDiarmid, Robert Monaster, Darren Morris, Jack Powers, Juanita Rey, and Ron Riekki; and art by James Deeb.

Visit 2River now to read the 19.1 (Fall 2014) issue of The 2River View, with new poems by S. L. Alderton, Jose Angel Araguz, Philip Belcher, Grant Clauser, Heather Derr-Smith, Howie Good, Robert W. King, John McKernan, Mariene Muller, Lynne Potts, and Teresa Sutton; plus new art by Rebecca Meredith.

Visit 2River late next week to read the 19.1 (Fall 2014) issue of The 2River View, with new poems by S. L. Alderton, Jose Angel Araguz, Philip Belcher, Grant Clauser, Heather Derr-Smith, Howie Good, Robert W. King, John McKernan, Mariene Muller, Lynne Potts, and Teresa Sutton; plus new art by Rebecca Meredith. Meanwhile, enjoy this selection from the upcoming issue.

Mariene Muller

White Ocean Motel

In the White Ocean Motel
at night our parents drink beer and boil
a tall pot of clams. “I hate clams,”

I hiss. I hate the clam gun, the bucket,
the beach at 5 a.m. I hate the gray
surf breaking beneath a burden

of rain. They laugh in the kitchen,
fog the window with steam. Three
teenagers sprawl across sandy beds,

the oldest preaching again what God
wants. God wants to save us. Save me
from go-karts, from fourteen,

from nothing good to eat or ever
happening. “The night is far spent,
the day is at hand.” When they all

fall asleep, I test God – “Lift this coat
to that bed.” The coat stays.
I cannot see I am moving.

Two lucky people will be receiving the actual postcard below from 2River.