Brownies My mother took me there, the first time I went to Brownies. The church hall was too far for me to go alone and I couldn’t be trusted to cross the main road. It was like Fireflies, she said. I liked Fireflies, and I could go there on my own. They put on records […]
Read more "BROWNIES – LYNN WHITE"THANKS TO THE PULSING NEWS Every day spurting red over our world. Is it blood? It is blood. If I did not see the blood I would chew red meat, quaff red wine, don purple gilded robes, clothed in luxurious privilege. But news–you put the blood in my eye, stir my blood to rage, red on red. I will fight to the death, paint you in an […]
Read more "2 POEMS – VERN FEIN"Aubade A spasm of brown and tan crosses Armijo Lateral. Waves of squirming tadpoles fan like peacock feathers in a paunch of late morning light. In the low pool All-it-can-eat tadpoles. Slithering closer: a few feet long ½ those feet obscured by murky water. An effervescence in its eyes as it spits out its tongue […]
Read more "TIM STALEY – 2 POEMS"Instructions for Preventing Transgressions on Your Body Put on more clothing. Wear less clothing. Excavate your nostrils, examine their contents like science projects. Feign flatulence. Easy on the makeup, don’twant to look like a cake. Brush up on tomboy cultureand lean into it. Avoid conversations about sexfood, drinks, literature, and money. Avoid talking about anything at all. Ask […]
Read more "Jazmin Witherspoon – 3 POEMS"THE FINAL ELEGY I see your fate as my brother’s was,as mine might have been—actions furthered by weakness,theatrics unworthy of review.That you find diversion inself-pity is unremarkable:through a glass,refracted light makes a fine mirror;a movie lens never focuses on soiled sheets.I can forgive you all but submissionthat is only vanity, only exhaustion.I’ll write you off […]
Read more "R.T. Castleberry – THE FINAL ELEGY"As One City girl in woods. A lake. A pier. Feet submerged. She squeals. It is cold. Aching ebbs. She sighs. Yellow butterfly hovers. Sharing wing music. Baby bass swimming. Fishers. Poles over shoulders. City girl shooes them. Feet over pebbles. Clumsy dance around boulders to the warblers’ beat. Fifty feet beneath limbs, leaves, parting […]
Read more "CARLA M. CHERRY – 3 POEMS"WHEN THE SHIT GETS REAL “My ol lady left me when her ol dog died, man. It’s not the first time either… They say it’s finally going to snow in Albuquerque. That’s when shit gets real” ~ WE GOT SO CLOSE It takes so much work to hit the stratosphere. LEO or “low earth orbit” […]
Read more "JOHNNY HUERTA – 3 POEMS"Writing It all starts on a blank page, blank like the silence that surrounds me every day. The things that no one else will say. That blank space into which I cast my line, trying to find out what the next line is again and again and again like punching against a wall of silence […]
Read more "Daniel Schulz – 4 POEMS"WHEN THE VIRUS CAME & STOLE MY WORDS The dreaded virus came & went but It hit hard for a few days when it was Even a struggle to make it off my Couch to my damn sofa but those days Are now firmly behind me but still Something lurks as if this lethargy may […]
Read more "BRADFORD MIDDLETON – 2 POEMS"Now you may have heard you’re already dead Let me tell you something I’ve seen a lot of dead people walking around And you’re not that bad yet Reflexes a little slow, maybe Eyes a little foggy Dumb as a post Dumb things can be good In silence Sometimes there’s wisdom I wish I could […]
Read more "Robin Wyatt Dunn – Now you may have heard you’re already dead"
