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Dispute
Why West Virginia gets the river I don’t know while Ohio gets little more than its bank even though the river bears its name. Up from the river, in Martins Ferry, many fists were thrown in Dutch Henry’s bar before it was deserted and ravaged by idleness. Today, all is quiet across the vacant lot at the Place of Grace Youth Center where a Presbyterian dove dives into an open book. And not much happens, beyond senescence, at Redman’s Bingo parlor. A little luck sometimes balances the ledger.
Things are like this, quiet until a slow burning dispute erupts. Years ago, a man named George dug up a dead woman to challenge a rival to a resurrection contest. If that wasn’t enough George killed another man with an axe for the temerity to claim himself (not George) God’s chosen messiah. That landed George in the nuthouse. We wanted him in prison, shipped to a far-off high-security penitentiary where vigilant guards circle the perimeter with silent attack dogs. Instead, we just know he’s sitting there in the state asylum’s day room cursing God and his great failed planet. No rapture anywhere in sight.
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Sean Webb is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and a past Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He has received many honors for his work including fellowships from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Utah Arts Council. Most recently, he won the Asheville Poetry Review William Matthews Poetry Prize and the Gemini Magazine Poetry Open Competition. His work has appeared in many publications including Prairie Schooner, december magazine, the Seattle Review, Passages North, and Nimrod. More information and links to his books including his most recent chapbook from Finishing Line Press can be found at seanwebbpoetry.com.