D. R. JAMES – THE USUAL, PLEASE, ON CRACKED WHEAT WITH MAYO

The Usual, Please, on Cracked Wheat with Mayo The tanned woman in the Midwest deli yesterday re-convinced me I’m superficial. Not that I needed re-convincing since regularly I’m the irregular normal person at the international annual convention of practitioners who see things differently. Whenever they feature that multi-humped camel in their closing ceremonial parade shaped […]

BRADFORD MIDDLETON – YOU KNOW YOU’RE ANTI-SOCIAL WHEN YOU PREFER A LIFE IN QUARANTINE

YOU KNOW YOU’RE ANTI-SOCIAL WHEN YOU PREFER A LIFE IN QUARANTINE I spent 14 days in quarantine which i Saw as being potentially 20160 minutes Of just sitting staring at my four walls Worried that slowly I’d be going out of My mind but it passed easily in a haze Of smoking words and films […]

Dr. Peter Scheponik – HOLDING ON

Holding On Oh, but I am not about death. I am not about rejection or letting go. I want to open my soul like a pair of arms and embrace it all– the beauties of this world– to gather them in like lovers or little lambs. To hold on, to hold on, to the sun-kissed […]

ROBERT CASTAGNA – TERMINAL

Terminal I stood at the airport carousel waiting.I was outside looking downseeing how solitary my world had become.Where had all the other passengers gone?Then suddenly the airport was full of people.The carousel was full of baggage.Nothing but black suitcases and overnight bags.And it no longer mattered which one you grabbed.One by one, they were taken.Some […]

RIKKI SANTER – RELIGION

Religion The Dude was here The Dude’s a saint Saints pick their teeth Saints spread like wildfire Wildfire eats oxygen Wildfire purifies Purify your thoughts Purify your chant Chant for Godtopia Chant for redemption Redemption for massacre Redemption for torture Torture to convert Torture to believe Believe in deep alchemy Believe heretics will confess Confess […]

MARC JANSSEN – NOTES ON “LOW”

NOTES ON “LOW” The melody turns in on itself with descending notes Ascending Descending Turning back and forward To seesaw percussion The piano scales into itself with ascending notes Ascending Descending Turning around To meet the trumpets heading the other way Five notes Back and forth the same five notes Fast and slow the same […]

Angela LaVere – 3 POEMS

Chameleon* I’m a Chameleon, Changing my colors to match my surroundings, I’ll make you feel comfortable. * Trauma like armor, I’ll blend in, so you don’t hurt me. * I can tell your mood in your footsteps, the set of your jaw, the tiniest tells; a twitch at the corner of your eye screams danger. […]

James Croal Jackson – 2 poems

Columbus / Portland you moved to Maine to become one with nature I am asking you move back I see the cascade coming over Portland the negative winters to film the reels of our silence peeled over our head clouds I took you to the dance party in Columbus you asked about but hours after […]

KINA NORVILLE – THANATOPHOBIA

Thanatophobia As always, I wake early to bakeit’s 4 AM, I finish and try to get some rest,and I can’t get this specific thought out my brain:death.How I want to remember being alive, and how I won’t remember anyone or anything.How does it feel to not remember being alive?It scares me.Like my blanket covering me […]

Sharvaree Kowale – 3 poems

tape metal mesh tongues on glass pane eyes, a translucent autumn makes haste for exit; it tries to leave the gutter conglomerate of affections in shedding, of nose twitches, of wings in paralysis, of butterflies in flee from breastfed saplings, of everyday eclipses hiding in your sock drawer. you’ll close your lips around the filter […]

Cacti Fur

a poetry high ground

photography