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empire builder

i 5

elusivity

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the 5th issue of the empire builder. has been elusive in its making,

rousing the late night alleyways and waiting for its time.

which is now.

this issue highlights all things that are hard to hold and grasp.

the founders are all present here with work that

is the best of our offerings to date. tapping into

rooted and ardent emotions.

partnered with and inspired by art from hope clunie

andrew strasburg | sarah wurzburg | chester bennett - respectfully present

i5 - elusivity.

ice | woodcut | hope clunie

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p. 2

Poetic Elusivity- chester bennett -

is in itself - stiing. leaving all those witness to it captured and gripped

in a mysterious fog to what they just missed.

all there is to do - is wander the wildness of dry prairies.

the elusivity of gripping poetry - masquerading as love with blonde curls and

neon tights.

it dances in bear suits, gloved.

poetic elusivity - smiles to all the poets - leaves us baroqued and bucolic.

poets these days, the ipoets. adept with 2x4 screens elude the truth - then

parade impatient glorious realizations of

[ literary allusion | literary illusion | literary elusion ]

on cracked sidewalks and past plate glass windows

grasping at those words - afraid to lay it out bare, in full view.

elusivity, poetically speaking - it is beyond what one person can control - oftenwhat is believed as the secret to success and james dean cool

has nothing to do with what they do and eludes them much the same

poetic elusivity - the smoke spiralling from a balcony into the black opine -

one cigarette ember burning ardent orange into the night while everywhere

else blue oceans wash rooms in ickering glows - but here poetic elusivity

burns and drifts into the arcane sky as night settles into the city and the whole

thing hhhhhssssshhssstthhhhssss between curbs and window blinds.

poetic elusivity.

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As a man listening to the forest grow | andrew strasburg

Why don't we do it

the daring things

that come to our minds

from time to time?

By we I mean most of us

who live inside boxes

bordered by expectations

social normalities, the opposite

of acting different.

What can go wrong

for the middle class

fear of giving up buying things

accumulating stuff

the closets bursting

the heart empty.

It is elusive | andrew strasburg

Writing is elusive, for starters.

Someone told me once

if you can't sit down and write

for hours without hesitation

you're not meant for writing.

I disagreed with himpolitely, but later admitted to myself

writing isn't easy.

Someone else said about art

it's a little imagination

the rest is hard work.

Dream Doubts | andrew strasburgAre dreams our way of giving order to our lives?

What does it mean if I cant sleep?

What does it mean if you dream of somebody else?

Where does it leave us

in the morning?

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p. 4

Spice | sarah wurzburg

I never understood cooking

with salt. What does it

do? How does it help?

It brings out the avors?

Does that make it like make-up,

bringing out the beauty in

people? Then one nds

out about curry, coriander, and

cardamom. Those have personality.

They are lled with sass,

and soul, they sing. Theyre

the people Id want to hang

out with. The ones you can

trust, intimacy is natural

because they are who they are,

and if you like them then

youre fast friends. Idlike to be paprika. Maybe

these are harder to cook with, but

when you what youre doing

they change your life. No one

ever said that about salt.

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p. 5

Bodies on the Street

- sarah wurzburg -

In the past year Ive seen

three bodies lying head on the ground

with out much movement. The third

was while walking home from work

the street was blocked off there were

police ofcers with the body, touchinghis chest, searching his pockets for answers.

They stopped trafc to erase the space

so the ambulance could draw near.

The situation looked helpless, yet

they were calm, if Ive seen three, how many

have they seen?

Its strange you do not want t gawk,

but there is an investment in if the body

is alive, if it gets up, if it goes to the morgue.

There is this fear, heart pumping faster,

faster, faster. Everyone wants him to get up,

walk away so they can believe in humanity,

in something being saved or in the investmentin other people through hope, its strange-

camaraderie in mass as if it were the Olympics,

everyone watching, desperately wishing

for this we dont know to get up. It seems

if he got up the world would change.

Body two was on the street by the bus stop,

there were people sitting on the bench, still

needing the bus to take them off the corner.

One police ofcer bent down, asking questions,

no one knows anything. He touches the back

of the head, its red and shiny, like a dull

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p. 6

Does anyone know where he hit his head? No

response, though someone must have called

the police. Black jacket, arms at the side,

eyes closed, people passing on the left.

Eight-thirty in the morning, just beforeschool starts: extremely loud crunch

followed by screaming. Teacher pokes

head in the door, call the police, get

the Principal, a student has been hit.

With limited information, I call, speak

with the 911 operator to give location,

information: student hit by car, close to15th and Irving, it seems he is still alive.

The Principal runs out, intercom

the doors will be opened early today.

No one should have to watch the body

on the street, still, breathing heavy, shirt

speckled with splattered glass shards.

The driver is a man in an old graybrimmed hat, an educator, spent his life

trying to help kids, derailed

by hurting one. The school continues

through the day, we nd out the hospital,

connect with the parents, the Principal stays

with him so he knows someone. Siblings

are somewhere too today. Upperschool child, notice written to parents,

he will be okay, he is in stable condition.

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p. 7

Rules of Elusivity- chester bennett -

1. have a wildly interesting past

2. have a railroad car story

3. do not be infatuous

4. do not spend luxurious time in public locations

5. only make physical contact when leaving6. only use alarm clocks with arms

7. never have coffee with breakfast or after dinner

8. never eat anything substantial in the presence of others

9. do not showcase love

10. be shaped to t slyly into corners, cafes, coatrooms and between

cobblestones.

11. do not ll voids simply holler into them and vanish

12. seek out phone booths and stairwells spending 3 minutes in each daily

13. resist intimacy and emotionalism

14. feed emotions to open mouths and hands like candy

15. do not see the same person in consecutive days

16. respond to written communication in no more than 3 sentences + 5

words

17. respond to all questions in condence

18. do not confuse love and care

19. avoid tangible presence in friend circles and lives

20. read letters in clean well lit cafes

21. walk everywhere

22. do not tip the balance between sincerity and personal

amendment twenty-nine: love only ideas.

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p. 8

Elusive- sarah wurzburg -

Being sure about something,

anything. Willingness to trust

oneself. Ability to acceptthat there is no right

answer. To see what you

dont like and get over it. To

continue because feeling is

irreplaceable. To stop

thinking and be ad hoc.

Appreciation of occurrencenow. Let things go, dwell on

the better. Take perfect

out of the lexicon of words.

Present in enough

of reality.

victoria | woodcut | hope clunie

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p. 9

Elusive Love- chester bennett -

elusive emotion born on sunset powerlines

we hasten to put our pens on paper

to perfect our craft

when eyes blink fast and suck fear from the skies

brothers. poetasters.

love has eluded us gone into the distance where the sun grows young.

escapist love that dances

and sinks into deep blue oceans with heavy hearted hostages.

allentown, PA | lithograph | hope clunie

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p. 10

brothers. poetasters

do not give up / take heart / keep faith

do not give in

to that which has torn into and out of your chest.

the elusivity in love / has purpose, to create in us raw emotion.

we chase smoldering stars with our words.

hear love babble through blasts of oor speakers in arenas.

struting under the sheen of stage light during sound checks.

then we remember the last time we were in love.

consoled with vegass pulse

rollicking light thumping our hearts

salivating to break us into elusive fractured pieces.

that is dangerous. to spiral distracted, in and out of city limits and bounded

wilderness.

wandering the roads and highways

rivers and oceans

the living room oor board creaks.

yawning and hoping to get a breath of it in our hair.

but poetasters take it in all the fearful and owing gloryblessing and cursed. damned and trumpeted.

lying in residential roads raked wet and rusting.

love | fractured | within its own natureis not something we own.

not something to be in - but acknowledged -

the most elusive emotion | to grace our tip toed tongue |

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