2 POEMS ~ Bradford Middleton

OH PHALLUS OF RIDICULOUSNESS Oh phallus of ridiculousness you tower over our town like a monolith fucking the sky as the denizens fuck with themselves anyway we can. Some chose to shop whilst I try to forget as life moves on in a drunken wasted state towards my ultimate escape and a place where life […]

The 10 Commandments of the 2022 Teen Creative Writing Club of South Central New Mexico

The 10 Commandmentsof the 2022 Teen Creative Writing Clubof South Central New Mexico 1 anything can be poetry2 encourage others and be yourself3 things aren’t all black and white4 bad writing is better than no writing5 it’s not all about white men6 love your writing because it’s yours7 don’t forget this is a way out8 […]

INAUGURAL KAREN TRUJILLO POETRY CONTEST – CLASS OF 2022 – THE WINNERS!

THE LIES ARE BEFORE THE FOOTHILLBy Melaina L. Mittel3rd place I want to tell you all a thing hereA tragic thing that defines my characterSomething that awakens even in dusk’s dawnSomething that can make an ego out of itselfSomething that can bring you and the others downAt the crack of daybreakSomething that defines my unfortunate […]

Continental Breakfast La Quinta Jackson Mississippi – Tim Staley

Continental Breakfast La Quinta Jackson, Mississippi There’s a sadness in heart-shaped waffles, in the cool flickering logs, in the tower of Styrofoam tended to by a brown person. There’s petroleum in the apparel, haircuts and politics of the others. There’s blunt force trauma in the space-age gravy, in the Fruit Loops from a wheel, in […]

NATURE POEM – MADISON STONE

The swarm of buzzing continues down the road. The way it hums startles the silence, stirring around the surrounding eco system. The way the cottontail’s ears twitch every second of every beat the gray fox’s paw fall onto the red sand. The lack of silence disturbs the yucca as it raises its stem high in […]

A RARE AND DIFFERENT TUNE – A PRE ORDER OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR READERS

Forthcoming from Beatlick Press in September 2021 “In his stunning sophomore effort, The Pieces You Have Left, Tim Staley brings you to the woods and asks you to stay the night. In this moving and fast-paced collection, Staley touches on an array of subjects–space travel, love, fatherhood, masculinity, death, solitude, youth, and dementia–delving deeper than ever […]

3 POEMS FOR JUNETEENTH BY TIM STALEY

After Ahmaud Arbery 3.23.20 His arrival here cut one background from another. Five hands sprung from each of his wrists. I wipe the ashes off the armoire. I light a new stick of incense Morning Star Mellow Pine. He sits on my sofa deliberately. The muscle spasm in his leg ribbons the room. From the […]

THE GOATHEADS OF LINDA VISTA – THE LYRICS by Poet Tim Staley (10.2020 to 6.2021)

BUMP YOUR SWEET NEON Blue cross blue shield Keeps my bowl filled I crashed the cannabis cup manic on the hippie bus social my security weighed at the dispensary greetings earthlings I’m here for your terpenes I got lost in the forest I couldn’t hear the chorus The darkness is shifting The sameness is lifting […]

POEMS FOR HER ~ A SEQUENCE BY CAITLYN COURT

This poetry sequence was written by a teenaged writer in Southern NM. We are thrilled to be the first journal to publish her work. the day that we first met. eleven years old, sitting in a science lab that seemed foreign. she was sitting to the left of me, a stranger in an even stranger […]

Vodka Omelet
 
Make it clear in my mind, Jesus,
am I whacked-out on Double Cross Vodka
or have I flipped out calling myself
Limburger omelet chef?
I hate question marks and angels
with crazed wings.
You know the type, John the Baptist
toking weed, stoned out of his mind, storyteller,
foul smells from poor hygiene, eating habits
open mouth, swallowing grasshoppers,
so silky, smooth as sweet honey.
Add 3 eggs in a skillet, Parmesan/Romano blend,
2 cheeses add-on, shiitake mushrooms, turmeric,
chopped kale, hint hot chili peppers, cheers.
Scramble me, I’m cracked.
I rock faith in jungle music, dance nude.
Everything is a potential poem to me.
My omelette, my life, my booze, master cook,
vodka
omelet
2:38 a.m.

Cacti Fur

a poetry high ground

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