A Note from yourEditors:

It has been an honor towork with so manytalented writers andartists who havegraciously contributedto The WormwoodPress. We have enjoyedyour humor, sharedyour pain, and marveledat your creativity.

We hope you’ll continueto share our collectiveworks through thewebsite, and wewelcome your commentson our Facebook page.

We will be in contact asour futures continue togrow and evolve. Wehope you, too, will keepus informed of yournew endeavors!

With love,Mary and Cheryl

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CONTRIBUTORS HALLE Kincaid page 8

]MARY Clancy Mango pages 4-5, 6-7, 10, 11, and 14-15

PHIL Mango front and back covers

LAYNE Messing-Swain page 16

JACKIE Post pages 2 and 3

DAN von der Embes pages 12 and inside back cover

CHERYL Welch inside front cover, pages 9,

13 and inside back cover

CO-EDITORS MARY Clancy Mangoand CHERYL Welch

Copyright Notice: Articles and Illustrations with by-lines are © 2013 by their creators. Unsigned material is: © 2014 by The Wormwood Press.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of the contributor responsible for the work.

“The End” issue

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April – 2014 3

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the last song I'll write (about you)

I DON'T NEED YOUR NAME TO OPEN DOORS

YOU'RE NOT MY PASSWORD ANYMORE

KEEP A TROPHY WIFE YOU REGRET AND IGNORE

YOUR SECRET'S SAFE WITH A NEW YORK GIRL

PUT ALL THOSE AWARDS UP ON YOUR WALL

SONGS WRITTEN ON THE BACKS OF ALL THOSE GIRLS

NOW YOU'RE JUST HER TROPHY BOY

KEEP HER SWIMMING IN ALL THAT SWAG

FROM POETRY GONE WRONG

I'LL SEE YOU SOMEDAY IN A STARBUCKS LINE

SUGAR ON YOUR ARM AND A GRANDE ON YOUR MIND

YOU WERE A BETTER MAN WHEN YOU COULDN'T AFFORD A TALL

WHEN WE WERE POETRY GONE ALL WRONG

AN ISLAND DOESN'T BELONG IN THE HEART OF THE HOME

YOU KEEP HER SWIMMING IN YOUR SWAG

SHE DROWNS YOU IN HAMMERS AND NAILS

jackie post

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photo: jackie post

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Pushing Up Daisies

Hanging Out with Famous Dead Folk

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Finding Out What Is In The Light At The End Of The Dark Tunnel

Meeting Mr. Death

Going To Your Own Funeral

Is There? Heaven And Hell?6

Floating!

Haunting Places and People 7

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The Parking LotBetween willingness to move and longing to remain stationery,Sally sat in her car for fifteen minutes after arriving at her office.Her mind was gray so she put on some music and listened hardfor answers in the lyrics of other women singing other sad songs.“I'll allow myself five minutes more,” she promised,“to listen andhurt, to cry if I can.” Then Sally moved unsteadily out into theworld she would no longer ever be sure of knowing.

How insidious ... this infidelity ... this traitorous actperformed by the person to whom you have pledged your love.Sally entered the insignificant gray building and climbed the hardgray stairs. Her mind continued its assault, “and by the personyou believe loves only you—the one you've chosen to be with for the rest of your life.” Sally turned the key to her office doorknowing that everything she believed to be true was no longerfixed and solid in the universe. The world had become an alienplanet where the natives spoke a different language and color haddrained from all of its vessels.

“I don't love her” Dan pleaded his case to Sally, “I hate her!”

“So I'm to believe,” Sally offered,“that it is possible for you makelove to a woman you hate? Then there's the matter of thoseonline chats I received from the woman. In your own words youclaimed to love her more than me.The chats in which you toldher there were 'no fireworks' with me, and that you wouldprobably marry me anyway ... because it might work.”

“All lies,” he screams, ”I don't know why I said those things!”

Translation please, Sally thought. I don't understand your alientongue.Are only opposite things true on your planet? If so, whatdoes it mean when you say that you love me?

The BulletThere are two kinds of cops.The one that tells the surgeon hedoesn't want to even see the bullet that nearly robbed him of hislife, his wife, his children, the world in which he had so muchwork left to do.And then there's the cop who wants the bulletpreserved as a reminder of how fragile every single day is.He considers the bullet a reminder of his ability to surviveagainst incredible odds. He has it cleaned of bloodstains andplaced in a small jewelry box that he keeps in his top drawer.Some days, he may look at the bullet, turning it over in his fingers,shaking his head at its weightlessness in his palm. He remembersthe pain, remembers the healing, remembers how much he loveshis family, his friends, himself. Remembers how close he came to losing it all, and vows to respect every day he is alive. He

promises to protect those he loves and to be intensely awarethat life is a single heartbeat away from death.

“I will keep the bullet for awhile,” Sally decides.The copyof the betrayer's chats, sent to her by the woman, were sosinister in their innocence. Just dialogue between the woman andDan, talking about how wild their meeting was in the back ofDan's lying gray car. “Did anyone see us?” they wondered, “Thatwas crazy, like being in High school!” The last chat the womansent to Sally included “Until next time” written by Sally's ownsweet fiancé. She hadn't looked at 'the evidence' since its arrivalfive days prior.Their words cut so deep that the memory of themis a wound that may not ever be closed or covered. Sally feelsdestined to wear it on her face hoping that, eventually, it will bemistaken for some other tragedy. She will keep the chats untilone day, years from this day, she'll remember that she still has thebullet that nearly robbed her of believing. On that day, she'll tossthem in the garbage as easily as if they were used tissues, andmarvel at her fortitude. Not today, though. Today, Sally walksabout this vaporous gray planet, dulled by untruth and confusion.

The Missing LinkIn the chain of a relationship, the links must be forged of steel andlinked together through trust, friendship and love. Sally considersthe possibility that there will always be a missing link betweenher and Dan. A link in this precious chain of trust that wasremoved and offered to another without a moment's thought orconcern for Sally, or for the wedding plans, or for their comingyears of fulfilling dreams. She considers her possible futures.Over time, she and Dan would attempt to forge a new link toreplace the missing one-Sally bangs this thought out like ahammer against an anvil-and the fit may be close, but not everagain close enough to connect them in the commitment theyonce shared.“Will that broken link remain in my heart remindingme of how little I mattered during a time when I needed tomatter the most-more than anyone else on earth?” she wincedwhile mulling over the hopeless scenario.There were no winners,Sally concluded. “That is,” she thought, “except for the womanwho was apparently a firecracker, and whose goal it was todestroy two futures that day-one week ago-when she hit the'send' button.” Sally decided that the woman was probably havinga pretty good day.

Her coffee was black and steaming in one of thematching mugs she and Dan had received as an engagement gift.Outside the back door Sally could see that the trees were full ofgreen leaves and the sky was blue. She could not turn around tosay goodbye to the only man she had ever loved. She stepped outonto solid ground.

Gray Planetby Halle Kincaid

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The earth is standing still

The rain is hanging in the air

The wind is calm in its place

You and I stand in this motionless universe

Everything is quiet but for the words in my head and my fear

In the lull, I hear your muted voice

In the quiet, I see your restless soul

In this stationary world, we are frozen from touch

I am standing with you now and will stand with you until the

hours hum to life and you are moved.

It starts

It keeps running

over and over

Continuously

over and over

It is deafening

Then it ends

Phil Mango

Mary Clancy Mango

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The Tale Of Two Tiny PeopleIn The Big World

THE ROAD ENDS HEREby Mary Clancy Mango

They stayed all Summer. Then they stayed well into theFall. Every one in the little troupe of circus performersfelt as if they were home and the wanderlust that hadheld them for so long, had now dissipated uponreaching Pippa's family estate. Pippa's mother andfather were the happiest of all. Never had theirdaughter, their home and the surrounding acres

seemed to be more joyfully alive then now. Everyonebecame busy and jubilant with his or her new life.

Mr. Cruikshank and Pippa's father, Mr. Quip, fellinto business together, quite by accident one nightwhile playing their nightly game of Whist. As was theusual custom, they had invited a couple of fellowsfrom the town near by, to join them. It was one suchguest who made the off-hand remark that if the twogentlemen should start a club of sorts, it would surelyturn a profit in no time at all. Thus “The Cruikshankand Quip Gaming Emporium” was established.Located discreetly in one of the former circuscaravans tucked deep in the wild woods, it had an air

of fantasy, travel, yet hominess, that relaxed theplayers and allowed the “house” to make a tidy coin.Some of the members of the now disbanded circustroupe provided the patrons with entertainmentbreaks, with ale and benne seed cakes offered asrefreshments. It was a most enjoyable way to spend anevening, even if you left without a coin in your pocketat the end of it.

As an honored guest, Madame Rossa stayed onwith the Quips. After a lifetime of travels andadventure, she now found contentment in strollingthrough the formal gardens, reading quietly from theQuip's extensive library and taking long, warm, rosescented baths. One day, while tidying her caravan,Madame R. spied an old deck of Tarot card that she

had long since forgotten. Ancient and sacred, thisdeck called to her to take them up and so she did.Darkening the caravan till only one exotic candle

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burned, she would go into a mystical trance asthe cards were laid before her. She wouldglow in the darkness of the wood as she toldthe fortunes of those who came with a goldcoin and questions for the cards.

Having only just found this family in thewoods, Flora Atwater, a tall girl in a smallworld, felt at once excited and calm. Everyonehad been warm and inviting to her, as if shewas a long lost member of the family justarrived back from an extended trip. To showher love for them, she built Pippa andMidgelle a treetop retreat. She built it in theoldest highest tree in the wild woods so theycould see places they had been and places

they would go. As twilight shaded the sky, P andM would sit high up in the wooden mansion andwait for Nevermore to return from his travels,then together the three companions would watchthe past light of the stars and planets appear inthe night sky.

It was up in the treetops, after a long andsolemn session with Madame Rossa, that Pippaand Midgelle planned what was next for the both of them. Madame R's cards had told themthat they would travel to faraway places and do a great many BIG things. So, as the rest oftheir family and friends settled into their newlives, the two little friends decided to go exploretheir own.

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photo: Layne Messing-Swain

There You Are

Cheryl Welch

There you are, moonlight in my room,

Shimmering across the bed,

Whispering inside my head

As I lay down

There you are, sunlight on the walls,

Living underneath my skin,

Always here when I begin

Another day

There you are, whistling through the kettle,

In a house that breathes your name,

In a world that's not the same

But still spins round