We are pleased to present our next Poet to Notice: LANCE GAMBRELLHe never calls himself a poet and perhaps that’s the best kind. I’ve always been able to tell when reading his work that something special was going on. There’s a palpable longing and an honesty of spirit all spread out before us on the […]
Read more "the writings of the late LANCE GAMBRELL — AMERICAN HERO"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 […]
Read more "MIDDLE AGE FOLLY – MITCHEL MONTAGNA"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.
Read more "English Teacher – JASON VISCONTI"THE PITHIEST SUICIDE NOTE Dear World – enough
Read more "THE PITHIEST SUICIDE NOTE – JOHN TUSTIN"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 […]
Read more "4 POEMS ~ THOM BAKELAS"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. […]
Read more "SAND – CHARLES D. TARLTON"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 […]
Read more "loroform Dinner Napkins – John Maurer "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 […]
Read more "SOLDIERS – JOHN GREY"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 […]
Read more "3 POEMS – MICHELE MEKEL"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 […]
Read more "TOUCH – HOLLY DAY"
