Mannequins in a Perfect World – P.M. FLYNN

Mannequins in a Perfect World On soft chairs they wait. Dark strands of unwashed vinyl hair; clean follicles strung with gold, a color in every woman’s eyes. Empty light fades in worn cloth under hands on arm rests woven with time unraveling: a fleshy palm hidden when a woman is unsure. Ebony and bronzed shoulders […]

STUNNING SOPHOMORE EFFORT FROM NEW MEXICO POET: TIM STALEY ~ ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY

“Reverence for the women in the poet’s life, stealth bombers, a juvenile cougar strangled on the trail and plenty of blank space on well-organized pages come together in The Pieces You have Left, Staley’s second full-length collection. Echoes of recent giants from Mary Oliver to bell hooks, musical quotations from Lucinda Williams to Miles Davis, support […]

RECURRING TEARS – Racheal Chie (from MUTARE ZIMBABWE)

Recurring Tears It’s as if I committed a sin in my past life And the one I’m living is the sentence Wondering when the pain will come to a full stop Seems to get relief I will have to fall into a coma In order to get a breather, already had an opener Just need […]

DUST TO DUST – C.S. FUQUA

Dust to Dust It gathers behind doors, the muck of hours and days and years, blown through vents and tracked in on the soles of shoes that have hiked through hell and heaven. They may notice at first, casually, but awareness is soon cloaked within other thoughts, other times, the tired ache of heads ready […]

CUT-PRICE – Geoffrey Aitken

cut-price cut-price do i bump & struggle through another dislocated day or do i return to my bed where guilt will gnaw on my discount store existence or wait for monday sales that return so much less

2 POEMS – Amy Soricelli

All this Broken Love I didn’t tell you how I felt when you said those things. I will tell you now. Those words are long rides on the highway. Broken sandals. A no-fly zone. Your anger sits on my tongue. It’s a restless bee. It shakes the walls, paints them green. Once we danced to […]

SEPTEMBER II – Marc Janssen

SEPTEMBER II It’s September third The ornamental maple Turns, I look away.

FORESAKEN – Frank William Finney

Forsaken I am the pen she left uncapped The one she tossed in the bottom drawer. I’m the line she crossed out when she wrote me off the one she crossed at every spot with every hook with every loop with every slant on every point each blot, each space: every trace of ink ran […]

THE WAR IN SYRIA – Daniel Schulz

The War in Syria His father didn’t sleep in his apartment. The apartment was being bombed. The absurdity of paying the rent. So a colleague told me, dark circles underneath his eyes. He was working double shifts in spite of his lack of hope, worried. My father said nothing to this. He is both a […]

BLACK LIVES MATTER – AFTER JACOB BLAKE – TIM STALEY

AFTER JACOB BLAKE After the medical aid After the helicopter After immediately to Milwaukee After lengthening up through the crown After gravel shaped like twilight After tailwinds through the reeds After the pelvic floor After a mother tells her daughter, never say the Lord’s name in vain After, who’s name then am I supposed to […]

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