Bitter Truths; Over-Simplification; Fatalism by Samantha Terrell
We sketch our realities with great
Care, filling in details that are perpetually
Smudged out [...]
Stories
Or Is The 'Great War Poem' Played Out; Transient Global Amnesia by K.R. Wilson
On the map, now,
if you can find it,
south of Ypres,
it’s Sint-Elooi [...]
Granata by Kristy Bowen
The maidens all line up, row by row. Sew their mouths into smiles and
while away the afternoons near the riverbed [...]
(For Salman Rushdie) by David R. Mellor
There are no words
Because words can lead to death [...]
Prophecy; Defiance by Petar Penda
A prophecy says the sea will drown clouds
Disarm them of thunder and lightning,
Of heavy rains, hail and snow [...]
9.81; Closing In On My Aloofness; Morals Murky As A Duck Pond by Richard LeDue
Gravity pulls on a feather as much
as a bowling ball, but other things
get in the way, slowing a feathery descent [...]
How this love is a gun by Clara Burghelea
We jinxed ourselves to the marrow of the night,
never to catch a wink of sleep, I am no fisherman,
you whisper [...]
Dad Jokes; Oenophilia by K.R. Wilson
consider the dad joke:
a corny response to a
trivial ambiguity
(hi hungry, i’m dad ) [...]
You Needn't Search Alone; Homesick Wanderlust by Lawrence Moore
Long after darkness first strolled out to play,
we cut the torches, possibly to sleep,
convinced all other lights were slunk away [...]
How To Defeat Demons; How Long; Please Note by Jacqueline Jules
You can’t see them, but you know
they are there, waiting, whispering.
They surround you when you sleep [...]
towards Silence; Aftershocked by Evelyn Moriarty
I am listening for a silent sound
beyond this world, and our time,
and the limits of our selves; [...]
A Mad Pen by Navraj Goyal
Don’t mind me! I am just a
mad pen.
Ignore me, or walk
over me, trample my words.
What? No. Why should I mind? [...]
Canned Fruit Salad; Ice Sailor by Nolcha Fox
Cheap bastards.
Only one cherry [...]
Not Yet; My 'round Town (chemo) Toddle by KC Hill
An old friend
shines down on my shoulders
soothing
pecking light on my cheek
warm kisses [...]
Cautionary Tale; Gold Ribbon by Susan Richardson
I was once a damsel in a dress,
a sparkle in an eye that never blinked,
a master of incarcerating bitterness
on the back of my tongue [...]
Seven-Years-Old; The Day I Learned...; Boy A and Boy B; Out Of the Fire; Monsters by Steve Denehan
Today was the day that she said
Daddy, you won’t know the age that I die at [...]
Good Morning; A Process Document Re: Life by CL Bledsoe
You text me good morning at midnight. When I wake,
I write all the ways to tear down
the world with you [...]
My Students Organized A Sit-In Protest Against Me by Bojana Stojcic
but I can’t think about it now coz
the sun is shining like a well-polished shoe and
life assumes a different rhythm on the weekend [...]
Breaking The Cycle by Kara Valore
I was never told the difference between control and love
and how the two can be split apart like conjoined twins [...]
Avian Flu by Torian Bay
A cycloptic bluebird
drops social chyme
into dependent beaks.
They snap and chat,
eager to swallow
the virus of their dead [...]