Andy Betz has tutored and taught in excess of 30 years. He lives in 1974, and has been married for 27 years. His works are found everywhere a search engine operates.
Equidistant as Before
On an evening of poetic singularity
Aglow from a galaxy’s greeting above
A bridge of little renown
Moonlights as a portal
For one last time
I know of the night’s destiny
The prophecy tells of my journey yet to come
This prognostication will be rendered complete
For I wrote of such things to be
When I last wrote, a decade before
My side, our side, this side
Equally controls this bridge with
His side, their side, the other side
By agreement, only one to cross
And parley equidistant from each shore
A decade ago, my journey was serendipitous
A decade ago, his was a crusade
We fought with words
We fought with fists
We vowed vengeance for what we individually could not achieve
Those wounds are now healed
The scars that demanded our attention
Disproportional to their pain
Forced our hands
At imperfect diplomacy
He claimed the mantle of the right and just
I affirmed identical footing
When we failed to buttress our positions
We laid siege upon the other’s pride
Pummeling sans hearkening
Time does not heal all wounds
For some fester ad infinitum
Some seek a river of blood
To slake a vast thirst
Others need only a single taste
I explained I would return again, destroying his ilk
He could manufacture the weapons of war
In quantities so vast, their inventory would rival
The stars in number
And as worthless as his soul
That was the last I gazed upon him
And gazed upon myself
Just as a circle has neither end or beginning
The bridge on that night
Mirrored the extremes of those on distant shores
That penultimate travel
Leads to this final sojourn
I will find no comfort
In meeting my doppelganger
In every manner except virtue
I will not regress in my hypothesis
Of his representation of evil
Or his representation of others
Who are equally evil
Or how easily one might become as such
This eve, I walk across the portal
Equidistant as before
Introduced to one so similar
In all physical attributes
And so vacant in all others
This eve, I permit him to speak
He brags of the weapons of his army
Of the pain they will inflict
Of the sorrow daylight should bring
On my side of the bridge
I wait for my turn
For I have little to say
I am indeed impressed with the awaiting arsenal
And the efficiency of the destruction it will unleash
But, not on my side
For I have asked for the bridge to cease
Its sole purpose
For I have asked for the destruction to begin
Equidistant as of now
To remove warring factions from proximity
As the charges explode, as the girders fall
I remind him, and thus remind me
That his weapons can only be used
In his civil war
And not his invasion
I smile when he becomes incensed
I permit his attack upon my person
We are soon to be drowned
Tallied as the first casualties
Of the last conflict his side will ever witness
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Support the Black Lives Matters movement & ongoing fight to end state-sanctioned violence, liberate Black people, and end white supremacy forever.
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From the Editor:
We hope that readers receive In Parentheses as a medium through which the evolution of human thought can be appreciated, nurtured and precipitated. It will present a dynamo of artistic expression, journalism, informal analysis of our daily world, entertainment of ideas considered lofty and criticism of today’s popular culture. The featured content does not follow any specific ideology except for that of intellectual expansion of the masses.
Founded in late 2011, In Parentheses prides itself upon analysis of the current condition of intelligence in the minds of these young people, and building a hypothesis for one looming question: what comes after Post-Modernism?
The idea for this magazine stems from a simple conversation regarding the aforementioned question, which drew out the need to identify our generation’s place in literary history.
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By In Parentheses in IP Volume 7
32 pages, published 1/15/2022
In Parentheses Supports The Black Lives Matters and Racial Equality Movement
Freedom should be free – The Bail Project.
Support the Black Lives Matters movement & ongoing fight to end state-sanctioned violence, liberate Black people, and end white supremacy forever.
National Police Accountability Project – dedicated to ending the abuse of authority.
#8CANTWAIT – Police Departments that have adopted these use of force policies kill significantly fewer people. Data proves that together these eight policies can decrease police violence by 72%. Find out how to lobby for better policing in your area.
RESOURCES FOR A BLACK LIVES MATTERS DONATION OR ACTIVISM
IP Volume 5: In Parentheses Magazine (Spring 2020-Crowds Edition)
The SPRING 2020 issue of In Parentheses Literary Magazine. Published by In Parentheses (Volume 5, Issue 3)
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