MIDDLE AGE FOLLY – MITCHEL MONTAGNA

Middle Age Folly Lurching hole-eyed and numb, he wondered if talking might help. Maybe he could regain their respect that way; he could show wisdom as the product of his experience. He rehearsed during wretched nights: “Did you ever look into a mirror and see something lower than dog shit?” He gripped sheets as fever […]

English Teacher – JASON VISCONTI

English Teacher She is the neighboring tree in the yard That will name every branch, Every flower becomes an apt remark, Every star a word to be chanced, The garden of language arts.

THE PITHIEST SUICIDE NOTE – JOHN TUSTIN

THE PITHIEST SUICIDE NOTE Dear World – enough

4 POEMS ~ THOM BAKELAS

summer rebirthdeconstructing wallsbuilt by cold years,my hands are no longer brittle,my blood has begun to warm;it all now comes so easilysavoring daybreak frost from her last kiss,discovering constellations in her freckles,chasing sparrows in her eyes,this is my home,i am home. ~ floorboard truthso full of excusesfor why things don’tget better—i write poetry for no one […]

SAND – CHARLES D. TARLTON

Sand Where now a thousand thousand houses bake in the summer desert sun, there were once lolling sandhills as far as Slover Mountain, surrounded by the endless geometry of dark green orange groves. The limestone mountain was ground down over the years to make concrete to make the stucco houses that crowded out the groves. […]

loroform Dinner Napkins – John Maurer

Chloroform Dinner Napkins I grew up with paint thinner, not paint I grew up with blood as thin as wineglass legs To the eye of anyone who isn’t a sommelier; I am a torso floating I am the skyscraper built on quicksand he who needs not walk on water since he can’t walk at all […]

SOLDIERS – JOHN GREY

SOLDIERS An allusive whisper, down on all fours, scented with spice, at the edge of the bed. In a thick-walled and narrow windowed house, a stucco fortress out of Mizner. Fronds of light. Camera. Palm trees. A series of flickers. Dancing on the lawn with imaginary water from a sprinkler system. My eyes are dull […]

3 POEMS – MICHELE MEKEL

Happy Valley In a hand-potted bowl of browns and tans, pink-hued eggs rest against sugar beet slices, waiting an overdue repast. In this season between seasons, adolescent bats arrive— midnight’s uninvited callers —to this aged house, nestled where rocky ridges paint the sky slate and avocado. On late August afternoons, black bears lumber through my […]

TOUCH – HOLLY DAY

Touch Cockroaches are one of the only insects that actually like to be touched, are some of the only non-domesticated creatures that crave physical attention, aren’t comfortable unless they’re wrapped in the bodies of their companions, in the palm of your hand tucked deep in the bottom of a shoe or the folds of a […]

2 POEMS – Gabriella Belfiglio

Dumped I find a hole to live in, on 18th Street in Brooklyn. To pay for the dump, I get a job. I walk around the hours of the day— a magic trick—cups and balls. My roommates, a colony of cockroaches, just out of grad school, have been watching me for weeks. I shred or […]

Cacti Fur

a poetry high ground