4X2
an online poetry journal
Photo by Melissa Hotchkiss
Resignation
by Laura Dixon
Some things I cannot master. Roofing,
for one. I made it as far as the tear-off,
but tar and nails are depressing
as Greek drama, car commercials,
all designed to teach you
what your best efforts won’t amount to.
Poem
by Sean Burke
This cloud was refurbished
by an online merchant
who works days as the moon's half-eaten orange
and blinks in near-perfect intervals.
His taste in atheleisure's renown.
He wants you to notice
Repetition ritual for summoning the good witch
by KT Herr
On a large screen I watch ice-
fisted hail shatter a windshield. Something about storm
footage gets the beams of my body
hot. Thrumming. Like they could lift
& land in some swifter place. Later, a real storm
tramples Florida. The air conditioner
exhales to a halt, then clears
Comfort of Home
by Kristen Holt-Browning
Awake at the false hearth, thinking about architecture,
how every structure I create is hostage
to water. The heat of this art is simple:
eyes open, wide through the mourning. This is to say night
comes early now, and I save nothing. Flip a switch
and gas flames to small fire, grazes
artificial wood. We do not have to build