Night has already come to the Ashby reeds, Though it is still day out on the lake. Night has soaked into the sand shadowed by reeds. And how many other darknesses it reminds me of! The darkness a father feels the moment a child is born, Blood that pours from the animal’s neck, The rocket […]
Read more "PULLING A BOAT UP AMONG LAKE REEDS – ROBERT BLY"Alzheimer’s 1 I see the heads of a family bobbing above the shrubs– or is it really small people holding up sticks with heads attached? 2 a burning shovel at the bar a boneless leaf in the bed 3 water broke Helen while diving into lake 4 Helen’s lips a rain check purple clouds 5 […]
Read more "ALZHEIMER’S – TIM STALEY & SEAN BRANSON"1. When a virus was dressed in rapture • Circa 2020: How it burgled our country In the hem of a certain night befuddled The omniscient among us. A prelude to rapture, some would call— I recall. A prophet could not Document this ambush on his calendar Of foresight. So much for the unforeseen That […]
Read more "4 POEMS from a coastal axis in Lagos Island -Tukur Ridwan"The swamp eyes are blinking in the dark; bayou moon slick on the surface as if oil slowly leaks over the lily pads. Seaweed and liquor, black licorice and dawn; kiss my ear and whisper music to my blue veins. Bubbles lazily drift to the surface. The ripples idly lap the nightly sky.
Read more "INTRODUCING Alannah Radburn"Euclid Avenue My dead speak to me too softly under the traffic noise of an early commute. Their words do not come through, but I can hear the complaint in their tone. At a stop light where I am boxed in by big rigs, their voices are fearful like children. I think they are trying […]
Read more "EUCLID AVENUE – John Brantingham"Philip Schaeffer texts Tasia: I told him to tether his dog to the back bumper of my truck, so he did. Then the four of us went upstairs to my apartment, at Woodleaf, had a drink and recapped our weekend. I should have said, “Bring your dog up.” I didn’t think, yeah, your pet’s out […]
Read more "3 POEMS – Peter Mladinic"DEATH IS RATTLING Death is rattling me From my throat to my balls To my bones When I wake up in the morning, As I contemplate this space I occupy, Drive to work Or pick up some groceries. It lurks whenever it is not staring into my eyes And daring me to stare back. The […]
Read more "DEATH IS RATTLING – JOHN TUSTIN"Symphony The ambient noise of cars, the atonal honk of impatient drivers, rushing to work, until March 2020. When the Skies became clearer, the Roads, quieter, the deadlines, the timetables, simply Memories The Birdsong, the rhythmic tarmac strike of pedestrians, a Symphony. The Quiet third movement of a Concerto, and at the end, only one […]
Read more "A PANDEMIC POEM – SYMPHONY – Ben Macnair"Zulema brought a Ouija board to 3rd period Zulema brought a Ouija board to 3rd period. She’d lost her boyfriend to the war. He was shot by friendly fire in Syria. No civilian in America had even known he was there; a ghost before he became one. Zulema set up the board on her desk. […]
Read more "3 GHOST POEMS – TIM STALEY"Tim will burn “I’m a musician” just say that you’re broke. Show us the empty guitar case you lie in front of you In front of your home like Oscar the Grouch, mask a passion with angst Pull that drive back like a pit on a chain bully to subdue so you don’t show us […]
Read more "TIM WILL BURN – PAIGE DUFFY"
Cacti Fur 