Juneteenth I sit in coffeehouses And read Tolkien Because Lincoln freed My ancestors I can live ( almost ) Anywhere because Martin Luther King had the Audacity To believe we were as good As them I can eat in ( almost ) Any Resteraunt Cos Freedom Riders and Sit in-ers chose to listen To the […]
Read more "3 poems by Erren Kelly"Undiagnosed Discomfort Asked if I still keep doves, I recall I once did, but like the petals of down they shed, I’ve lost their names, markings, the number of bodies I held in my palm, fed capsules of bread I’d rolled between thumb and finger, til my mother set them free, out of feelings of […]
Read more "Avra Elliott ~ Undiagnosed Discomfort"word up poetry fans, Cacti 🌵 Fur and its parent organization Grandma Moses Press will be doing a guest appearance in corroboration with Slippery Elm 🌳 Press at the AWP book fair in Baltimore. Look for us at table 839 on Friday, March 6 from 11 AM to noon. If you’re in Baltimore stop by […]
Read more "AWP 2026"ghost ride the whip another house party hosted by whatsherface another lacklustre Saturday chauffeuring you around rooms of architecturally handsome faces but tonight I’m cloaked each word I utter is a haunting met with a second-sucking startle before being relegated to the conversation’s footnotes so I saunter between gossiping huddles like a watermark on the […]
Read more "Alex Scarborough ~ ghost ride the whip"John Hughes — to all the Neo Maxi Zoom Dweebies It’s February 18, 2025, John Hughes’s birthday. Altered Images is singing in my head. The fact that he’s dead doesn’t stop me from celebrating the birth of this man, the man who understood us: The Xers, Gen X, latchkey kids. He was the Nicholas Ray […]
Read more "Nancy Byrne Iannucci ~ JOHN HUGHES"Over-Steeped Morning calm spills down my throat, an antidote to replace jitters of coffee, aspartame of Diet Coke. Keep me awake on this morning, every morning, when sleep pulls like a lover from an unmade bed, and let me continue work that feels more important than me while disease leaks life from my neighbors and missiles fall around […]
Read more "Over-Steeped ~ Elizabeth Birch"Down 45/50 down, depending on builder quotes. jesus: I could live for two years if I’m careful and have a divorce. but instead it’s two bedrooms in a square by the courts and disused market buildings all listed and tumbling down. and we can afford it and still go on holidays two times a year […]
Read more "5 poems by DS Maolalai"PRETENDING TO WORK This Thursday I will pretend to work I will take some very real calls And answer some very real emails From some very real people And then I will gaze with some peppermint tea Listening to the sound of a small fridge And refresh the inbox And wonder what notes are on […]
Read more "Pretending to Work ~ Paola Magnusson de Filippi"thank you note to mother planet goddess gaia thank you for having us here thanks for having me here on your place birthing our asses on your beautiful planet thanks thank you for all you do for us and more please tell the stars I’m sorry sorry for the pollution and confusions the stupids, the […]
Read more "5 poems by AVA BIRD"Miscommunication It was evident by how voraciously she unbuttoned my button and unzipped my zipper that she had not understood what I had meant when I had said I only wanted a Platonic relationship. ~~~ Intimidation You don’t soon forget when you walk into your boss’s office and spot a shrunken head resting on his […]
Read more "4 poems by Wolfgang Wright"
Cacti Fur 