Our reading period is OPEN from October through April. Our reading period is CLOSED from May through September. We will not respond to poems sent to us when our reading period is closed. THANKS FOR CONTINUING TO TRUST CACTI FUR AS YOUR POETRY DRY GROUND!!!! ~~~ Thanks for considering Cacti Fur as a possible home […]
Read more "SUBMISSION WINDOW CLOSES MAY FIRST — SUBMIT YOUR POEMS WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"Early March The sky digs in her fingersto massage the mountain, presses deep into canyon cleftswhere the ache of glacier and rock-fall scrape is most acute,rubs a hard gloss onto ice and slickrock, breathes a thin heat onto sloped meadowswhere elk browse among winter-worn grasses, and a small fox, untouched by cold,a gold glint of […]
Read more "J.I. Kleinberg – Early March"Balloon Man (The Saga of Monsoon Man) Balloon Man is the patriarchal saint of music.He tastes of grease and lint as hestudies the passing parade. Balloon Man is the patriarchal saint of cats and trees and birds and girlish ankles and boyish charm. A picture crashes to the floor, waking Balloon Man. He rises from […]
Read more "JEFFREY FIELD – 2 POEMS"Gone with First Light I fear the dawnwhen gentle streaks of lightpoke through the trees,birds trill in a chorus of morning,deer graze the meadowin the fading mist. For at first light you will rise,sleep draining from your eyes,hair tousled, stretch to the heavens,and plop back beside me, warm,inviting, planting a first and lastkiss on my […]
Read more "PETER WITT – GONE WITH FIRST LIGHT"Kim Porter, Police Officer It was just a routine checkYou were only going to searchhis car, you saw his expired license tagsand a tree air freshenerhanging in the rear windowit would just be routine:your 26 years of experiencenever failed youthen a warrant check discoveredhe had a warrant, a weaponspossession charge; he figuredhe could outrun the […]
Read more "Erren Kelly – 2 POEMS"CLOCKWORK GOD Trains and Angels leave devastation in their wake To those destined to meet them Sodom and Gammorah stops along the eternal track The clock keeps ticking And people look to it with reverance As if it were an authority When it itself is flawed down to the cogs Gilded in gold covering copper […]
Read more "Wyborne Michaels – 2 poems"How to Not Get Bored at Work No, the answer is not rolling your neck to toss your eyes into a co-worker’s cleavage, andneither is letting a tab of porn silent-fuck amidst ten other important looking ones just for thekicks (that your ribs will inevitably get from all your male colleagues when you stupidlyadjust the […]
Read more "Raza Ijaz – HOW TO NOT GET BORED AT WORK"Matinee What movie are we in?I mean, is this the main featureor just a cartoon?Funny, huh?Why it seems so pivotal,no Grade B tragi-com, but drama, true to life. There should be long dolly shots,some camera crew on the fringes,proper lighting, a Greek background. Freeze frame.Get the picture.How painful is the close-up?Stop dreaming as if for […]
Read more "MATINEE BY STEPHEN MEAD"The Gray Tree Is Graced I shot a winter photo of the Camperdown Elm. It is in Prospect Park near the lake, beside the boathouse. It’s the one Marianne Moore saved with a poem. It was old then, and thought dead. It is twisty, short and gnarly. Its two, heavy branches, one suffering a growing […]
Read more "THE GRAY TREE IS GRACED BY Gerald Wagoner"The Blue Sidewalk The blue sidewalkwas a little sad with pedestrians sleeping on itand others stepping on the cracks all day long. The stars abovewere sleeping as well or found another earth to shine for.Extra sad, the blue sidewalk disappearedat the corner of First and Broadway.
Read more "THE BLUE SIDEWALK BY Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal"
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