E2K: a journal for the new literary paradigm

From some tusky tower
in Konigsberg
Kant fathomed a dusk-covered
field
contemplated our
maturity

II.

Nearsighted
Old Man Kant can't
see us

III.

Traffic mixes
at the crucible-corner of
Vernon and Central-

Yellow means Yield-
Red means Stop-

Baraka's Babel-
with a rappish dunder thunder-
rolls out of a T-Bird
into the exhaustive
air

r. l. swihart tries never to think of himself as one person; he's not static. Yet all of his work is extremely autobiographical. Born in Michigan and persisting through an eclectic educational background (engineering, theology, Near Eastern languages/culture, education), his current mission is teaching math to inner-city Los Angelenos. In Rilkean fashion, he paraphrases the lifelong sense of "I'm still learning and therefore any sense of completion must come postmortem." swihart's family represents his feminine side, even as his influences consist mostly of dead guys (Becket, Frisch, Mann, Tolstoy, Rilke, Nabokov, Celen, Zbigniew Herbert). Recent credits include The Melic Review, 3rd Muse, Samsara Quarterly, The Drunken Boat, Conspire, Poet's Canvas, Facets, OffCourse, and Stirring.