‘vagary’ it’s not like i saw this coming but i sure as hell put it out there enough. signal like a streak of sun. when young mother would say careful or you’ll get hurt. now the call has been answered and twisted limbs are all i crave. these beacons bouncing between chests and i’m waiting for one of us to drop the broadcast but we’re not. we’ve rea…

‘what comes from not knowing’ bottle opens easier than door does key a function brain locks open-mouthed no entry stranger to house. no creeping mouse stolen sound crumble overtaken all left out date expired. railing keeps stairs; the only marriage never failed. holding the fingers cupped hands nothing squeezes tight enough avoids the spill. #barfl…

‘buddha’ so apologetic just for the record you say i do you when do you ever say you do me we’re so divided we’re so united i’m eating crow tonight to keep the peace i’m so buddha i am so miracle not losing my senses this seems senseless such a song on record sing it back you do when have you never nothing so hidden the sun, the moon, the truth i r…

‘things you learn in the dentist’s chair’ so much gets stuck under the surface you think you’re clean until something hits just the wrong way then you want to rip it out. we go on about our daily lives an accumulation beneath our noses the smile never shows what is hidden neither do we hear what is held under tongue. it is possible to feign a nap b…

‘daylight savings’ tomorrow goes an hour lost where goes all cast away chasing down ghost remains no saving grace to lengthened days love’s secrets shared beneath leaves what steals back to tides of seas can i say i still want you can i say you still hold me at this time nothing spins right how much longer spinning wrong another cycle spring ahead …

‘vacuum’ here’s the thing about lonely you don’t need sun for it to follow. * #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto --- Support …

‘in this bar’ i made the sad song a double to fill the single shot of reality i walked in with between the eyes. * #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.e…

‘athazagoraphobia’ tucked under your arm. fashioned for your palm. where you had gone i went and nothing had been so glorious. to be seen in silence. to be chosen without whoring the moral halo circling my tongue. but through my stagnancy your creases grew and grew and for all the times i asked up you set me down. free from your fingers a space sni…

‘perpetual sap’ right hand gives. “where have your words gone,” she asks as if unaware she’s ended all i gratefully share though this she’s still willing to take. a slow drip from the bleeding tree comes death of self-esteem; i’ve a soft voice in saying i love you, a glazed stupor when in silence no reply. * #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpint…

‘rock salt’ it built back in ’78 and never stopped. inches to feet, feet to yards, yards to an ever-accumulating expanse of miles. treacherous traveling but who ever thought to shovel the journey from beneath their eyes. howling winds the limbs seemed to withstand, trunks sure and strong my god did the lineage ever get it wrong. the dna never made …

‘bring your christmas decorations in’ fickle february melts then brings back the snow under a dead eye i walk counter-clockwise time flies with the crow and at the corner a myriad of directions only one choice. baby jesus left outside from the manger did he make much noise i sympathize shunned for reliance upon my own voice does plastic skin still …

‘have pain, will travel’ these high hats make funny shadows of my hands three for the price of one like auras illustrating the way i feel dark, grey and just a whisper. i have no business writing under this light it will only fuck up my sight, really but anyone wondering what i might be up to will bear witness to my laborious squinting, my dogged a…

‘when will she’ she brought the woods into my heart but she insists on standing outside our forest this lone tree without sun this bent thinking of hers. when will she realize she has every right to sky and no seed goes punished. of all the limbs i could choose i choose hers to wait under and when it becomes too much i’ll cup all she spills and gen…

‘curtain’ veiled silence enlightens the nuances tonight a young woman appears animate, she is pale and fainting by inches, i know, my cranial base a window but without the view. what covers my eyes a phantom illusion; she’s security issues while i a letter without return , address and in this imaginary flesh i try. the abyss comes forged in alabast…

‘corner’ i don’t want to be here anymore. i’m not afraid to admit it. i’m not afraid to say it. i’m tired of the constant dismissals. i’m tired of actions not matching the words the cowardice, the absolvement of blame, the walking away like i hardly ever mattered, or was, or will be. i’m tired of my role. i’m tired of my mask. i’m tired of writing …

‘komorebi’ for once i lost the words. for once all in my world drew its breath. you, cross-legged atop your blanket, me, little boy bursting from my chest. the portrait brushed around us so lush in pause. “on my final day this is where i wish to end,” but a playful frog took my thoughts before i vented. and the lake you longed adopted i immediately…

'final test' drink till all goes spinning riches a combustion within the head rejuvenated spark a circle an expression of deafness, immediately night flutters and a pedestal above the strange and fantastic, this imperceptible ghost. multiplied the fall a stiff wire my shadow jumped top bottom, almost incarnate, now the others disorient the pale of …

(volume up) ‘no title’ left hand receives. the universe’s temperament presses with its giving hand against my throat. why did i come here to drink? assessment of my days like a piano hits the wrong notes. four stools down the maestro taps a blue pen. unforgivingly. jesus bathes under mosquito corpses. the last draft of my story requires a final edi…

‘in a hotel away from eyes’ the haunt is recognizable staring back i know this from when i was young the father, the son, neither ever holy, like stray dogs followed the ghost of which so many but now only one. the watch gone missing though like cicadas the spinning hands buzzed and interrupted unseen thoughts, until finally manifested too late. “i…

‘the light in the dark’ every story has a start. so this is what that is. a start. or maybe this is the end, because a start does not necessarily begin cleanly. so this might very well be the start of the end. and if you think i’m being poetic, i’m not. i think i’ve reached the point where i can be honest and say i’m existing, and that’s just not l…

It's a repulsively glorious fall day in Brooklyn. Seeking respite from his upstate rustication, Greg Jackson comes to the city to ask us, "Who are you guys?" In trying to answer him, we discuss Conrad, infantile ejaculation, polite literary readings, and nested storytelling. We take frequent breaks. Drew becomes rather maudlin. Lauren eats Port Sal…

We're so back, as they say, and we've recruited some struggle favorites to join us for a most unseemly return. We gather in Park Slope with 3 microphones, 4 dudes, and 1 Lauren. We talk about the text, for once. We talk about sojourns abroad and encounters with Kentuckian gastronomy. We perform close readings then forget our reading entirely. We si…

‘abditive’ part of the sham is participating in it. so pour the masquerade like a cold one into glass. drink it slow or fast. doesn’t matter because the bloat will follow you home. all they say heads your way but never is it meant for you. like bubbles children try to snatch from july sky, it floats just close enough to delight then gone. every one…

‘and i know’ and i know that you don't want what i want anymore. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto --- Support this podcast:…

‘approaching’ the moon approaching the transformation begins this beast now a wilder thing. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPint…

it’s nearly summer vacation so now what’s your excuse?? ‘can’t stop me’ when i get the call that my daughter’s school is closing due to inclement weather i stay up late and drink like it’s the first day of summer vacation. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotc…

‘piggies’ and just like that she makes her feet home in my lap says boy rub my piggies i came a long way for your palms well i never had no market now i’m stocking shelves i wanna keep her fed and i love her tongue in my mouth so she tastes me inside out and knows she no longer walks alone and if my baby wants me i’ll carry my baby home i am home, …

the bottles, the empty bottles… ‘at 2am’ i'll put this as succinctly as i can: you treat me like shit. disguise your shortcomings if you must (and you must) preach the honor of your duty (i no longer listen) the only role i have ever asked is that you actually see me instead you have left me wayward twisting in restless sleep drowning in bottles; i…

someone teach me the reasons and not the lesson… ‘filipendulous’ tired. spell it. two vowels and thirty-three bowed vertebrae like overpacked luggage from my spine. i’m good keeping possessions but what i own ain’t mine. a chest with a hole and no room to fit in. one more scotch or bourbon don’t ask for reasons i wouldn’t know where to start and if…

and this is why i love writing from bars. i think i need to go on tour… ‘she’s just angry’ cries: he used me he took all the best i was. she sucks angry on her cigarette the way she sucked angry on his dick. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' an…

moments are few but here is my one… ‘avoidance’ mother and father took the tines to my eyes but never time to soothe my tongue and so much of my embryo goes unanswered like why did i grow into who i am and why do i see now what i’ve been blind to before and who the fuck nourished me when most obviously my bloodlines ran thin? i am not yours and cle…

perfectly whole yet not quite together… ‘monachopsis’ a thousand interlocking pieces yet none hold the smooth to slip me in. a shape with projection i seem to push the mass away. even if we lock would i ever want to conform to your spatial monotony? i hear what you’re saying but it’s falling on deaf ears. you want me here but a path leads from the …

‘death no matter’ these people they think i die to drink no, no friends i drink to die. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. * www.etsy.com/shop/JosephPinto --…

do you stay well after the curtain drops…? ‘playbill’ fifth act. we find our protagonist once fool now hanged man center stage and all unfolding behind eyes does so unaware of severed cords to facial expression and while heart trembles worrisomely to outcomes beyond measure he’ll suspend expectation and keep forever his surrender waiting. 'playbill…

where are the fresh voices and deliveries? why is so much presented for the eyes and not crafted from the heart? ‘beacon’ we live in a world of posers and followers desperate for the free and brave to liberate us from all the shit. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps…

he’s interesting— he’s well-traveled he’s a musician on weekends he’s single but he’s not my type. i listen to her words and shake my head sadly knowing she’ll find a reason to take him up on a night out. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and '…

looking thru the glass. and seeing nothing… ‘assassin’ something’s swimming in my snifter that shouldn’t be. maybe part of a bug or yet another piece of myself i’ve been forced to swallow and now repeats in untimely fashion like when i want to forget the knife holes in my back. usually i ignore all leaking down my spine but it’s hard when all i wan…

you figure things out the hard way… ‘yes isn’t always the answer’ yes isn't always the answer i couldn't figure out what he meant but it became clearer after several shots of irish whiskey look, sometimes you have to grow balls and stick up for yourself be a man and not some compliant pussy that rolls over to your woman. he suddenly got a text from…

and here hanging is a wardrobe of uncertainty… ‘gallimaufry’ here, there, you left your face and if only i knew which expression belonged. eyes constantly turning, mouth always churning and one nail is not enough to raise you up and into light. there’s a plastic to your condition that doesn’t agree under the ridges of my fingertips. i can’t collect…

Drew finally lifts his editing embargo and the show recently described as "your boyfriend's favorite podcast" returns with a special guest-- the esteemed, humble, and oddly jacked translator Max Lawton. We talk about...what the hell did we talk about? Many arcane Russian writers we don't know about, non-binary bombs, a bizarre fascistic musical (al…

'change of scenery' shoulders slumped he left his house there his posture straightened along with his optimism. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. --- Suppor…

'muffin' it’s the kind of wind that runs through your house like an intolerable child bored from their mind, the kind of wind that brings about pause and makes you question all the warmth you’ve allowed to escape from your life. the kind of wind that pairs best with chili because like you it comes together in a mess. i love you, she says, and you k…

‘trampoline’ clear sky thins the smoke from the eyes but exasperation dries the slick out from the tongue. no piecing together of clever words can ever detract from the lines you hurl and cool cheeks betray bleats of a mourning heart. higher and higher you’re always at it say you’ll stop just like an addict keep me down as long as you rise up. on a…

‘words like ghosts’ 'go live your life, she told him. but he didn’t know how without her. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. --- Support this podcast: https:…

but who ever listens..? 'tiger' caution! do not put fingers or hands into the cage! yet you fail to heed the warning time and time again. it cannot help if you now lack the necessary digits to pound your discriminatory reports under its eyes or the common sense to keep from worming back into its head. incessant you ignored the cue from its rollback…

just leave the bottle… ‘proof’ weakness from an old injury. the broke breaks deeper than the disobedience of soul to bone. i’ve oft tried to mend myself with white cocktail napkins and while catching the spill they could never wipe the mess. there’s not much left but a photograph of us along michigan avenue. who knows if heaven exists but something…

‘obvious metaphor’ though pretty the dandelions choke and kill the lawn. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and Scars' and 'A Distilled Spirit' poetry collections available in paperback and ebook on Amazon. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spot…

‘appreciation’ a devil’s deal for love heart freely ripped gnarled vines replacing fruitless eyes rust weeping emaciated clouds sun refuge shovel, he handed break soil, he spoke, only now can you appreciate drought. #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Rights Reserved. * 'From My Front Steps,' 'Scotch and S…

'lorn' good god almighty, you widen my eyes with clandestine grandeur, salve my tongue as vessel to your unknowable ways…only to rob me lost of true fervor, my faith upon my knees before eternal night, pregnant above my ashen countenance in bedeviling possibilities? #barflypoet #josephapinto www.josephpinto.com © Copyright Joseph A. Pinto. All Righ…

'lacuna' still waiting here, a blue without horizon, an awful gale without wind to blow. your name about the corners in reflective manifestations, none the direction from where we came. keeping the posture when the rain falls teeming down, the realization tread water means one has since drowned. and when the sun dries the sodden mess it leaves me f…