Always An Angel Who Cares It's 9:35 PM, he reaches for the ashtray. He brings the cigarette to his lips, and hesitates when he hears it in the dark. It's 9:37 PM.

1 Weeds Dear friend, I cannot tell the reasons why we started well

Planet An afterlife I wouldn't mind

An Occurrence in January » One cold morning, a middle aged man sets off on an expedition for a treasure that will finally retire him from his profession.

Belated Phone Call to the Museum of Natural History I'm a selfish person, but this way you're still in the backyard. That alone appeases my cowardice.

The Soldier That Slept And when I looked, I found you. And you still haven't wiped the specks from your eyes.

4 Make Your Partner Smile From a discarded acting assignment sheet left in the art building of my school campus is the basis of "Make Your Partner Smile," an activity that, when I read it, immediately gripped me and the rawness of it had me excited to try applying in a different art medium. This is my first attempt at "found poetry," all credit goes to Robert Cohen of Cape Fear Community College.

1 Vacant Signal I leave a note in a bottle bobbing in the remains of our sunken society. And inside will be my last regret, a final farewell to a drifting civilization. "Here lies his king," it will say, "a man whom swung his sword but unfortunately missed by a mile."

2 Afternoon Haze I need much more than an oasis, only an ocean will do.

Castle Crestfallen I cursed the encroaching waves; I had grown weary of their impertinence.