QUARANTINE I bought the largest bag of pom poms, remembering mopping the floor each night after close, my dad waiting in the closed shop while I washed the dishes, we waited and went to Whataburger when I didn’t have a car after I broke off my first engagement, the details they say, the yellow of […]
Read more "3 poems by Alexandra Gilliam"PUPPET TALK How I feel about these times. Anon. I move my feet I dance and dance, up and down, up and down, cannot stop. The cares of the world marionette me all around and around up and down, up and down. I cannot exit. The curtains never close. Characters appear and disappear. They whisper, point, […]
Read more "VERN FEIN ~ PUPPET TALK"WILLAMETTE JANUARY II It is 7:30 when Monet paints nude tree groves with Vaporous strokes Dust silver water Blindly runs past the landing Silently whispers Cruel eddies catch Half submerged giants, force Them to angry sleep ~~~ MARC AND DUKE DRIVE TO THE RESERVOIR (Riverfront Park – East St. Louis Toodle-o) Been on the road a […]
Read more "3 poems by marc janssen"(all 3 poems translated from Maltese by Albert Gatt) Someone’s wife refuses to follow. Someone’s wife refuses to follow her therapist’s advice. She finally changes out of her work uniform. She nibbles at a chunk of dark chocolate. Insists that she’s on first name terms with Buddha. That he’s like an old faux pas, addled […]
Read more "3 POEMS BY GLEN CALLEJA"SEND OFF standing back in darker shadowsso i cannot see – she gives methe middle finger – in front of mesnowy mountains, a lonely road –the endless empty sky.
Read more "CARY ZITER ~ Send Off"A Walk Along Forever
Read more "N.T. Chambers ~ A Walk Along Forever"Desideratum Roget spent a lifetime in pursuit of the right words. Unrelenting, obsessed with nuance and symmetry, from his methodical eloquence he birthed the thesaurus. I lack his singularity, living instead in surges of passion, volcanic eruptions of words: intermittent bursts of dangerous brilliance, more often blown smoke. But this I share with Roget – […]
Read more "2 poems by Jamez Terry"A Warning Label for Life Drowsy amid dawn, I brush my teeth and shower with city-issued disinfection byproducts that may cause cancer. Abluted in the chromium-6, lead, and other contaminants, I call myself clean. Soft scrambled eggs go down my gullet with their heavy metals, toasted and buttered carcinogens soon follow. Water sends a vitamin […]
Read more "A WARNING LABEL FOR LIFE ~ BOB MCNEIL"Christmas in July
Read more "Dance of the Butterflies ~ Jeff Lewis"Grave What I’m Talking About When I Talk About Home The neighbor’s water sprinklers go off synched to my bladder at four am and I muscle memory my uncounted steps from four- blanket cocoon to streetlamp-lit bathroom as mattress-groans signal my partner turns in preparation anticipation expectation to pull me in when I sink back […]
Read more "2 POEMS by Amy Marques"
Cacti Fur 