O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Marzelle Robertson
Colosseum
Waiting in line at the colosseum,
our tour manager quipped, at least,
when we get in, we won’t have fight
a bear or a lion. Meanwhile, we studied
the arches and columns, all pocked with holes,
looking as if they had been strafed
in one of the latter-day wars, except
the holes’ spacing was too uniform –
made by the homeless, who pulled out the iron
used to hold the columns’ sections in place.
To buy food, they sold the iron for reuse
in church bells, weapons, and gates.
This structure is a long tale of fights
for survival. The weather at home
has turned bitterly cold. Volunteers check
the underpasses in Dallas, try to coax
our homeless out of cardboard boxes
and into the shelters. One volunteer saw
a man secretly signal a car that slowed
but then passed. He suspected the driver
had something the man wanted more than shelter.
We were told gladiators who lived seven years
were given a choice to stay or go. Some stayed.
About the writer:
Marzelle Robertson is a former English teacher and school counselor from Northeast Texas. She has published poems in many journals as well as in four chapbooks: Listen (Dancing Girl Press), Toward the Terminal (Kelsy Books), This Good Trail (Kelsay Books), and Cicada Song, (Seven Kitchens Press).
Image: Ruinous perfection (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. 2026.Public domain via Midjourney AI.
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BUTTONHOOK PRESS MASTERS SERIES
Click on the titles to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks.
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Brian Clements on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Mark Budman on Flash Discourse
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Ray Gonzalez on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Michael Martone on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Roberta Allen on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Peter Conners on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Maxine Chernoff on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Pedro Ponce on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Tom Hazuka on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Kent Dixon on Flash Fiction & Nonfiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Jim Meirose on Experimental Discourse
With an interview by Associate Editor Warwick Newnham
O:JA&L’S HIGH BUTTON PRESS ART CHAPBOOKS
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RITES OF CALIBRATION: Images & Excerpts
Fine Art Photography by Rex Wilder
Fine Art Photography by Natalie Christensen
Painting and drawing by Anne-Marie Brown
BY LAND AND BY SEA: Awakening the Sensual
Sculpture and Installation by Mark Yale Harris
Painting and drawing by Bette Ridgeway
Painting and drawing by Kathleen Frank
Painting and drawing by Catherine Eaton Skinner
Implications of Energy
Artist portfolio of Dr. Ernest Williams III
