Slaminatrix

by Lisa Martinovic

Fiddle accompaniment by Donna Henschell

so you just want to take the edge off
one beer
one joint
one teeny weeny Prozac

get rid of the edge?

people, the edge is what Columbus sailed straight into
it’s the launching pad for every space shuttle
the edge is Eve contemplating the apple

and what’s life without an edge?
that’s right,  it’s DULL
the edge is the cliff you’ve dangled from in a hundred nightmares
you never know what’s over that edge
and there’s only one way to find out

Brothers and sisters
where are we—
who are we—
if we take the edge off?

Lose

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by Lisa Martinovic

The most chilling aspect of the debate swirling around the EPA’s new rules on airborne mercury is what’s not being debated. 

The dispute erupted when The Washington Post revealed that the EPA buried the results of a Harvard University study it had commissioned.  The study sought to determine the public-health benefits likely to result from a reduction in the levels of mercury emitted by coal-fired power plants.  Mercury is a persistent neurotoxin that causes brain and nerve damage as well as behavioral changes. Released into the atmosphere, it accumulates in rivers, lakes and oceans, concentrating in

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Lisa Martinovic ́ is a native San Franciscan who — to the surprise of everyone, most especially herself — spent most of the 1990s in Hogeye, Arkansas.  Yet it was there that she came into her own as a slam poet, writing and performing political satire, ribald erotica, Ozark character studies and a genre she calls poemedy—a hybrid art form combining the most compelling qualities of poetry and stand-up comedy. She has ten self-published books to her credit and the CD Snake Dreams, a joint production with fellow Ozark poet Brenda Moossy.

Lisa has toured as a performance poet throughout the US,

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In addition to this site—Slaminatrix.com—which features my poetry, essays, and radio commentaries, I have three other sites:

www.LinguaFlora.com  showcases my Digitally Reimagined Photography, gorgeous floral images available as premium greeting cards and prints.

www.Doubloons.us is the venue for my graphics and cartoons, available on T-shirts, thongs, coffee mugs and the proverbial much, much more…

At www.WellnessAlly.net  you can connect with me in my capacity as Wellness Coach and Health Care Advocate.

Lisa’s Name Explained

There has long been some confusion about

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by Lisa Martinovic

An enduring presence and local legend at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, Charlie Grimm would have appreciated this day in his honor: a balmy winter’s morning after nearly a week of rain.  The surf was small, but perfect, with a gentle offshore breeze pulling spray off the lip of each wave as it peaked.  Charlie’s friends and relatives began to gather mid-morning, just south of the Cliff House, on the sidewalk abutting Kelly’s Cove.  The crowd would swell to more than a hundred before the event was over.  Two fire trucks parked along the adjacent stretch

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