Tag: Cord Moreski

Cord Moreski: “The Songbird of Brinley Avenue”

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The Songbird of Brinley Avenue 
for John Dorsey

If she were a songbird 
I wonder which one 
I’d compare her to—

Dolores, the elderly widow 
from a few doors down, 
starts to sing as I get dressed 
for another workday— 

maybe a mourning dove 
or a mockingbird	
a house sparrow
or even a starling

regardless I don’t think 
any of them can top
a tune to her when she performs
with her record player.

Last week 
it was Billie Holiday 
and some Frankie Valli
yesterday 
a little Tina Turner 
and some Jackson 5

but today 
it’s something fierce 
something that means business
for a Monday morning

so I leave a few records 
by her front door—
some Misfits,
Clash and Ramones—
just in case.

About the Author: Cord Moreski is a poet from the Jersey Shore. Moreski is the author of Apartment Poems (Between Shadows Press, 2022), Confined Spaces (Two Key Customs, 2022), The News Around Town (Maverick Duck Press, 2020), and Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018). When he is not writing, Cord waits tables for a living and teaches middle school children that poetry is awesome. You can follow Cord here: www.cordmoreski.com

Image Credit: “A man holds up a vinyl recording disc from a box of discs at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C” (1949) Public domain image courtesy of The Library of Congress

Cord Moreski: “Night Swimming”

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Night Swimming 

After working another shift 
in the oppressive Jersey heat 
taking food orders from the privileged 
and counting tips so I can make
my rent that just went up again

any ghost from Roman literature 
would definitely point out that 
I haven’t been very carpe diem
as of lately

so I make my way 
to North End beach 
surrounded by teenagers making out 
past their curfews in the sand
and stoners hot-boxing 
beneath overturned lifeguard boats 

I take off my work clothes 
while this drunken couple 
on the shoreline beside me
continue their post-bar conversation 

about the fate of the world
the fate of us all, fire and ice,
as if they were knocking back 
a few earlier with Robert Frost

they try to ask me what I think
but I’m already diving into the surf 
and by the time I resurface they leave
and all I’m left with is just this darkness 
as I float on the calmness of the water

I don't know what’ll happen I think to myself
but the stars sure do look pretty tonight.

About the Author: Cord Moreski is a poet from the Jersey Shore. Moreski is the author of Confined Spaces (Two Key Customs, 2022), The News Around Town (Maverick Duck Press, 2020), and Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018). When he is not writing, Cord waits tables for a living and teaches middle school children that poetry is awesome. His next chapbook Apartment Poems will be released by Between Shadows Press in late 2022. You can follow Cord here: www.cordmoreski.com

Image Credit: Léon Spilliaert “Beachview at Night” (1905) Public domain image courtesy of Artvee

Cord Moreski: “Casual Friday”

Posted on by asitoughttobemagazine 
Casual Friday


When the evening arrives
John next door goes by 
the name Lady Flamingo 

and puts away the expensive suit 
for a dress with sequins and feathers

hides his neatly combed hair 
beneath curls of a pink wig 

and trades in the quietness of his dress shoes 
for the authority of eight-inch heels

he works business in the city by day 
until business becomes hers by night.

This morning I hold the entrance door 
for him while we both leave for work 

sporting another Brooks Brothers suit 
he tells me it’s Casual Friday 
as he points to the pink flamingo on his tie.

About the Author: Cord Moreski is a poet from the Jersey Shore. Moreski is the author of Confined Spaces (Two Key Customs, 2022), The News Around Town (Maverick Duck Press, 2020), and Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018). When he is not writing, Cord waits tables for a living and teaches middle school children that poetry is awesome. His next chapbook Apartment Poems will be released by Between Shadows Press in late 2022. You can follow Cord here: www.cordmoreski.com

Image Credit: Chase Dimock “LA Flamingo” (2021)

Cord Moreski: “Space Shuffle”

Posted on by asitoughttobemagazine

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NASA_Earthrise_AS08-14-2383_Apollo_8_1968-12-24

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Space Shuffle

I wonder what music
the one percent will be playing
on their voyage through space
after leaving this warm planet behind
like some kid’s father never returning
after going out for a pack of smokes

maybe it’ll be disco
where they’ll wear roller skates
that glitter like the stars outside
their space shuttle windows
and dance the funky chicken
or the hustle as they get their boogie on

or maybe it’ll be
more of a nu-metal experience
where they’ll sport backward baseball caps
and break stuff like Fred Durst
while Earth in the rearview mirror
turns into a sad puddle of mud

for what it’s worth
I bet it’ll be elevator music
or Muzak for the aficionados
where they’ll tap their champagne flutes
to the beats of soft sounds
waiting to get off on the next floor.

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About the Author: Cord Moreski is a poet from the Jersey Shore. Moreski is the author of The News Around Town (Maverick Duck Press, 2020), Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018), and Stay Afloat Inside (Indigent Press, 2016). He was the host of the New Jersey poetry series Words on Main and the virtual poetry series The Couch Poets Collective. When he is not writing, Cord waits tables for a living and teaches middle school children that poetry is awesome. He is currently working on several new projects for 2022.

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More By Cord Moreski:

Aubrie

Someday

Understudy

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Image Credit: Earth Rise Over The Moon (Public Domain)

Revisiting 2019: Our 50 Most Popular Posts of the Year

Posted on by asitoughttobemagazine

 

Dear As It Ought To Be Magazine Readers,

As we enter the next decade, I want to thank all of the writers and readers who have made our tenth year so successful. I take enormous pride in working with so many talented and inspiring writers. Without your brilliance and generosity of spirit and intellect, none of this would be possible. It has been a great privilege to publish your work on our site, and I hope to continue featuring diverse perspectives, challenging ideas, and unique voices for years to come. As a way to look back on what we accomplished in 2019, I have complied the 50 most popular posts of the year based on internet traffic and clicks.

Thank you again to everyone who wrote for, read, and promoted AIOTB Magazine in 2019. Let the 20s roar again!

Chase Dimock
Managing Editor

 

Poetry

Jason Baldinger:

Ishrat Bashir:

Jai Hamid Bashir:

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal:

Jeffrey Betcher:

Ace Boggess:

Daniel Crocker:

John Dorsey:

Ryan Quinn Flanagan:

Tony Gloeggler:

Nathan Graziano:

Cord Moreski:

Jeanette Powers:

Stephen Roger Powers:

Jonathan K. Rice:

Kevin Ridgeway:

Damian Rucci:

Anna Saunders:

Larry Smith:

Nick Soluri:

William Taylor Jr.:

Alice Teeter:

Tiffany Troy:

Bunkong Tuon:

Agnes Vojta:

Kory Wells:

Brian Chander Wiora:

Dameion Wagner:

 

Nonfiction

Daniel Crocker:

Nathan Graziano:

John Guzlowski:

Cody Sexton:

Carrie Thompson:

 

Reviews 

Chase Dimock:

Mike James:

 

Photo Credit: Fire Works At New Year’s Eve via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Cord Moreski: “Understudy”

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Understudy 

Margery always loved theater.
In fact, she was an understudy
at the local playhouse on Clark Street.
From time to time, she’d fill in
as Kim MacAfee from Bye Bye Birdie,
or Sophie Sheridan from Mama Mia,
Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror
Picture Show, or the several other parts
she played for whenever she got the call.

At home, it was a different situation.
From day to day, she’d fill in
as the provider of the house by working
extra shifts waitressing after her mother
got lung cancer, and the keeper for her
five-year-old brother, Cade, who had
just learned how to write the alphabet
in his kindergarten class, the protagonist
to her drunk father who appeared
at her front door each night
despite his restraining order,
and the several other parts she mastered
at the ripe old age of twenty.

She always dreamed of some big break
that would get her out of this town
and into the lights and life of Manhattan.
But one day the cancer closed the curtain
on her mother, so Margery left
the understudy life behind
to take on a more permanent role.

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About the Author: Cord Moreski is a writer from New Jersey. His work has been previously featured in Silver Birch Press, The Pangolin Review, Philosophical Idiot, The Rye Whiskey Review, In Between Hangovers, and several other publications. He is the author of the chapbook Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018) and is currently working on a new project for 2020. You can follow Cord here: https://www.cordmoreski.com

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More by Cord Moreski: 

Aubrie

Someday

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Image Credit: Frances Benjamin Johnson “Dock Street Theatre, Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina” (1936) The Library of Congress

Cord Moreski: “Someday”

Posted on by asitoughttobemagazine

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Someday  

Someday, I hope this poem finds you—
clocking out of a dead-end job,
or during a television commercial
when you’re slouched on the sofa,
between sips of burnt coffee
at the diner when you’re feeling lonely,
or after gazing at the stars outside
your bedroom window because something
keeps you from falling asleep at night—
to let you know that it’d be nice
for you to finish that manuscript
kept hostage in your desk drawer
after all these years, to paint that canvas
cooped up in your attic collecting time,
to take that road trip you swore
would save your life, to find that smile
that used to appear naturally
before it had to be forced.
Wherever you are. Whatever it was.
Someday, I hope this poem finds you.

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About the Author: Cord Moreski is a writer from New Jersey. His work has been previously featured in Silver Birch Press, The Pangolin Review, Philosophical Idiot, The Rye Whiskey Review, In Between Hangovers, and several other publications. He is the author of the chapbook Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018) and is currently working on a new project for 2020. You can follow Cord here: https://www.cordmoreski.com

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More By Cord Moreski:

Aubrie

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Image Credit:

Digital Photo by Chase Dimock

“Aubrie” By Cord Moreski

Posted on by asitoughttobemagazine

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Aubrie
for Andrew Moreski  

My parents had just killed their bedroom lights
when I decided to sit on the porch after supper
listening to Let It Be by The Replacements
and sipping on Fat Tire in a broken beach chair.
It was September and all that was left
in this shore town were locals
and the subtle hints of autumn in the ocean air.
That was when my little brother Andy came out
of the house and introduced me to Aubrie.

He told me as he took a seat that he met her
when he was six years old. Andy snuck
into our older sister’s bedroom
and saw Aubrie’s reflection in posters
of Ginger Spice and Belinda Carlisle,
in palettes of eye shadow and lipstick,
and in the array of powder brushes and bags
scattered like treasure along our sister’s vanity.

They continued to talk in high school.
He wrote love poems for her
during eighth-period composition class
repeating the mantra LOVE HAS NO IDENTITY!  

Then they moved to Astoria together
after college. She told him to grow his hair
past his ears and down his shoulders
to drown out the sound of gossip
that would be about him, to paint
his fingernails blacker than the looks
he would receive, to wear
his thrift store dresses and stilettos
better than any woman he would ever know.

“One day,” Andy told me as we clinked
our beers together, “I’m going to introduce her
to Mom and Dad. But that’s whenever she’s ready.”


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About the Author: Cord Moreski is a writer from New Jersey. His work has been previously featured in Silver Birch Press, The Pangolin Review, Philosophical Idiot, The Rye Whiskey Review, In Between Hangovers, and several other publications. He is the author of the chapbook Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018) and is currently working on his first full length (2020). You can follow Cord here: https://www.cordmoreski.com

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Image Credit: Heinrich Kühn “Brother and Sister” (1906) Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.