Oddball United

Just Jagged Thoughts brought to you by Oddball Magazine's Jason Wright

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Wise Words with Bruce Wise

Comics & Coronavirus, Along With Other Combos. It's Wise Words with Bruce Wise!

  SFC Antonio Rodriguez and SFC Javier Guttierez           by War di Belecuse

Remains of SFC Antonio Rodriguez and SFC Javier Guttierez came back to this land, flown in to Dover Air Force Base on a C-17. They gave their lives to keep us safe in damned Afghanistan. Both men received the bronze star and, as well, the purple heart. O, God, such little consolation. Death is always hard… for family…

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Bamboozled No More! Family Legacies, Parent Fights

Bamboozled No More! Family Legacies, Parent Fights

  At some point the love between spouses may wither, and the love of the children is reshaped by the arguments and accusations exchanged behind closed doors, spilling into the hallways, filling each room, eventually finding their way into the spaces where children once played and now hide.

Children bearing witness to accusations, name calling, tears, threats, breaking through the walls, forcing…

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The Underground Garden: Freed Lives

"Have you ever had to let go of a drowning man/Because he kept holding on to the anchor while cutting into your hand" From the latest Underground Garden by Liza Zayas.

  You ever watch someone die in front of you? Just never survive the pain that they’ve been through

Have you ever had to let go of a drowning man Because he kept holding on to the anchor while cutting into your hand You couldn’t keep your feet planted firmly in the sand Their rescue isn’t part of their plan.

You ever watch a fighter give up? Allow themselves to stay stuck Dive into the quicksand…

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It's All One Thing #321: Labyrinth as Birth Pangs

It’s All One Thing #321: Labyrinth as Birth Pangs

  Oh, how did that red flash of form feather the green shadows of the hedge? Where did those deep orange monarch wings flutter over the wild grass from? We are the people of the pit. We oozed from the ground and charged up derricks. We’ve only dug in deeper. No wonder. We’re obsessed with embryos. We rain down death from above. Death falls like rain drops, laser guided rain drops. Our laser…

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Poem by Jacques Fleury

From Jacques Fleury's latest book! New art by Mary Lou Springstead!

  Interiority

          “He who looks outside dreams, he who looks inside, awakens.”               –Carl Gustav Jung

I wish this beginning would be the bulk of my story… Landfills where fuchsia stars burst like Beethoven’s sonatas in the night, Nesting birds basking in the moonlight, Where the darkness and the light are both alike, A marvelous silver against the dark horizon… To know me look not…

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Essay by Jacques Fleury

Read the excerpt from Jacques Fleury's latest book.

  Race in America: How We Got Here and How We Move Forward

An excerpt from ‘s book, Chain Letter to America: The One Thing You Can Do to End Racism. Cover art by Mary Lou Springstead.

“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” –Mahatma Gandhi

Ah, racism, that foggy ugly feeling that everyone feels but hardly anyone wants to admit to or talk…

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The Oddball Show: Meet Gabe Howard, author of Mental Illness is an Asshole

The Oddball Show: Meet Gabe Howard, author of Mental Illness is an Asshole

  Episode 4.6!

  On this episode, Gabe Howard sits down with Oddball to talk just why Mental Illness is an Asshole, why he is Not Crazy, and why these are all Needful Things to be. Yes, those are three things talked about in this podcast. Tune in to Gabe Howard, the man behind the juggernaut book Mental Illness is an Asshole, one of the voices behind the Not Crazy podcast and Psych Central…

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Jagged Thought #308: A Review of Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins

Jagged Thought #308: A Review of Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

  This book inspired me, tired me, and made me feel like with a little push I can do anything. I even started running! This book made me think I could putter around for two miles, wheezing around my neighborhood. It felt good, though. If a book can get me to run out in my neighborhood before the sun comes up, then it will do something for you.

I could describe David Goggins in a few simple words:…

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Poem by Patricia Walsh

"Sifting through paper, a niggling progeny," A new poem by Patricia Walsh. Art by Luis Lázaro Tijerina.

  Animated Darkness

Sifting through paper, a niggling progeny, whitewashed tombs betray their wares shortage of ink to comfort the deja vu strange solid art watches from above.

Collective champions eschew the later bar, insulted injury too much to drag across the dark-haired redeemer brings to notice the unsung text of a forgotten queen.

Being rested and fed, despite any industry colluding in its…

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The Secrets of Skinny People by Geoffrey Fallon: Get It

For the rest of us who lost on Oscar Night, here's Geoffrey Fallon.

  © Geoffrey Fallon

  Geoffrey Fallon: “I draw on found objects. Bills, take out containers, cardboard, grocery store adverts, old notebooks. I generally throw them out when I’m done, because they served their purpose. One time, I put a bunch of my journals on the street to be recycled, and somebody took them. That made me very happy.”

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The Odds by Bill Harvey: Paleontogist

Bill Harvey digs up this punchline.

  © Bill Harvey

  Bill Harvey is a cartoonist working as a technician in the Detroit area. His comic appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.

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Wise Words with Bruce Wise

Wise Words with Bruce Wise

  Haiku           by Ibe Ware Desu, LC

The white snow covers rooftops, cars, trucks, vans and yards, in the fresh, crisp air.

  Haiku           by Ibe Ware Desu, LC

Along 380, Wedelca Ebusir sits, ready to take off.

Ibe Ware Desu, LC, is a haiku poet. Lieutenant Commander Ibe Ware Desu, a member of the Space Force, is the designated pilot of the Wedelca Ebusir spaceship.

~~~

Tanka           by…

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Bamboozled No More! Two Poems

Bamboozled No More! Two Poems

  Making Families

Some people were made to make families, not just babies.

Others were made to unmake families, leaving bits and pieces of memories and tears.

  What We Do

Sometimes the WORDS take a long time to find YOU. other times, YOU cannot find the right words.

Then again, it really could be about the timing.

You with pen/pencil in hand or fingers on the keys of the laptop with empty screen,

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The Underground Garden: Niños Recordado

The Underground Garden: Niños Recordado

  You’re Safe. You’re Safe. I kept telling my inner child. I needed her to let go. I needed my presence in the present. She kept me looking back. To make sure she was Safe. You’re Safe. You’re Safe. You’re so safe that I can assure you there will be no further harm Please my love let go of my arm And return to childhood. I promise you I will not lead you to abuse I promise you I will not keep you…

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It's All One Thing #320: Only the Shadow Knows

"Who Won in Iowa?" Read the latest It's All One Thing.

  who won in Iowa?

pure obdurate cluelessness untethered bubble brain politico class of entitlement and privilege rule by those who own the table Devil take all those so hindmost never ever called to the meal time of such supposed great plenty all wealth accrues to the top just a system of flues and sluices always empties into the same hands and then up the squirming skyward rope poof! it all goes…

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Poem by Caitlin Leggett

"She was a praying woman/ She wasn’t no half ass praying woman either." Read this poem by Caitlin Leggett.

  Dianne’s Prayers

She was a praying woman. She wasn’t no half ass praying woman either. Those prayers had a “skip the line pass” straight to Jesus.              Her prayers started businesses.              They fueled economies.              They raised villages.              They stopped the bleeding of bullets.              They kept her husband’s heart beating just a little while longer.      …

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Two Poems by John Sweet

Two Poems of small town triumph by John Sweet.

  deserter

not the weight of the sun but of the sunlight

sound of passing trains at the far edge of everything and it only took 30 years of living in this town to make me realize i was lost

it only took the death of my father to keep me from becoming him

only took his relentless disappointment to give me some small sense of hope for the future

  all these upstate towns start to look the same

it’s…

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