When the man with the gun stopped by for his glass of wine & a hug from La Senora we thought all would be well with our world & for a few days it was. No more mealy-mouthed muggers to worry the neighborhood & no more blood in the culverts. But that all ended just as fast as it had begun. It’s now Thursday & no one is free to reminisce. In fact, no one wants to be around any of us. Oh. There’s the occasional crank call & alerts. But, for the most part, we’ve quartered alone. Samson was the first to crack. Who can say why? He was always the most impetuous. Someone penned a note that made the rounds. There would be a rendezvous at the lake Saturday night. Our options would be revealed. Saturday night rolled around & I heard music in the distance a bit like that cool jazz from the 1950’s. Through the light fog, I could barely make out the silhouette of a sailing ship with the lines of a schooner. It was then he came from the dunes with her on his arm. He smoked a long cheroot & she a meerschaum pipe. As they came closer he gestured for me to follow. At the ship I walked the plank & settled aboard. The dockhands tossed the lines & we were under sail. Two days later we landed on Atoll Hercules where I was to stay until my days were few & my story had become historically irrelevant . . . That’s all I remember of that time & those who were in my company. Once the ship departed there were only the rowers who came in the night & the harness & the incessant chimes.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Roger Aplon was a founder and managing editor of Chicago’s CHOICE Magazine with John Logan & Aaron Siskind. He has had twelve books published: one of prose poems & short fiction: Intimacies & 11 of poetry, most recently Improvisations – Poetic Impression From Contemporary Music: after musical ‘experiments’ by composers such as John Adams, Elliot Carter, Miles Davis & John Zorn to name a few. Given his love of jazz & experimental music, he often reads his work with musicians from the Avant-Garde ensembles Wormhole (In Yokohama & Tokyo Japan) & the Trummerflora Collective (San Diego, CA). In the course of his long career he’s been awarded many prizes and honors including an arts fellowship from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. After an eight year writing retreat in Barcelona Spain, he now makes his home in Beacon, New York where he edits & publishes a poetry magazine: Waymark – Voices of the Valley & is at work on a collection of new & selected poems. You can read and hear examples of his work on his web site.