Not in the way of a solitary spider, but a more bookish type. My web is a spectral endeavor, a reflection of my personality—the homespun fibers of my existence. Over my morning cup of Earl Grey, I plot the formation of a new friendship. The spinster next door is fair game. Her only drawback: she has a pet mini Doberman, devoid of voice box and … Continue reading I’m a Recluse by Dale Champlin
Hot Stuff.At The Bar.Tiddly Winks.At The Bar.Free Drinks.Free Cigar.Top Shelf.Avatar.Hot StuffLoose LipsRuff RuffNice Tips.Hot Stuff.Taxi Cab.Open Blouse.Grab Bag.Penthouse.Dirty Mag.Your SpouseDressed InDrag.Hot StuffHandcuffsHang ToughCream Puff.Hot Stuff.Pretty Boy.With Your NaughtyNaughtyToy.Did You Dig TheScene? Did YouFlash SomeGreen.Call YourMommy First?Then YourMister Clean? Hot StuffRuff RuffHave You Had Enough? If The Answer’sNo YouCan GetTo Go. Continue reading Hot Stuff by Charlie Robert
No cap, this whole timeline is cringe.My drip is this default skin. My rizz? Gave up and ghosted!I’m just a tryhard mewing at the dust,out here mogging the inevitable. It’s a major L. This house? Highkey Ohio.This aura? Cooked!Heart is salty, blood’s just mid. Bruh.Your own body gives you the ick.I wouldn’t simp for this version of me, fr. The news is pure brainrot.Skibidi politics, … Continue reading The Bottom-of-the-Ninth Vibe Check by Zumwalt
Throughout the twentieth century and for most of the twenty-first thus far, the quest to become famous has remained a common goal among the starry-eyed and attractive (even if only “by small-town standards”). In fact, one could argue it has for so long been presented as the foremost goal not just because of fame’s erstwhile association with wealth, but because “who wouldn’t want their name … Continue reading Rachel Cusk’s Life of M is Less a Takedown of Natalie Portman and More an Illumination of the Hollowness of Celebrity Itself
I’ve met the driver before, the rides are often confusing, destination unknown.What starts out up, ends up down.A walk on soft brioche clouds can turn in an instant into a waterslide of turbulent water.The ride is mostly smooth but dead-ends at a group of uncaring and dispirited buildings.They reek of loss and bad decisions.They feel familiar because they are.But beautiful red and violent paint slowly … Continue reading A Ride With Ketu—This Is Not a Dream by Frankie Laufer
Only lizards ferry a boat across the river keeping an eye on the distant shoreHow many women have requested to be taken back. To begin again— to be thrust into the tentacles of remembrance— such a thankless mission, they surmise.Where did I come from at the beginning The trick—how after the first sip of mother’s milk, it is virtually impossible to return to all-encompassingnothingness. The hope—that butterflies will always swarm multicolor … Continue reading The Lizard of Love by Dale Champlin
The quiet, simple truth isthat life has passed you by. But it comes up againsthyped, noisy,powered truths: you let it pass, you neverfound something to fall back on, or masteredwiring, money, computers, relationships,cars; all blame is on selves and you have onlyyourself to blame. Capital evenretrieves from its early, definitivejudgments of you the term“underachiever.” It’s one of those rare,true moments of clarity; youknow because it … Continue reading Waiting for the Electrician by Frederick Pollack
After a shower, I assess my toenails,cartilage balanced on each toelike a tabletop, hard stubs marredwith flecks, chips, cracks,and maybe on the big one, a milky patch of fungus.The two smallest are bare,newborn pink piggies,while others have survivedelectrifying collisionswith bed castersin unfamiliar hotel rooms. I count the sorrows,on each piggythat strayed to marketinstead of staying homecomatose in front of the flat screen:four funerals, two biopsies,one … Continue reading Mortal Polish by Christine Jackson
How often i surrenderto that space that calls me hometo the falling and the fallen suspended in the unknown Love’s embrace this fall from gracecenturies of griefyearning to turn overa brand new leaf I AM the earth and ALL that turnscreation vibration of atoms energy and cellsThe soil I till the leaves I burnI AM the world in which i dwell Born in darkness chained by starlightlinked by unnamed planets the Beloved who holds my hand from afarstrangers I take for granted I know not where the exit … Continue reading Falling Into Autumn by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
Another country crumbles to rubbleand a neighbor approaches as we erect our fence—not even a neighbor, but the nephew of one,a long-term visitor with too many cars and a daughter, a toddler I’ve never seen outside—introduces himself, as he has been parkingfirst one car, then two, on the curb just outsidethis fence, the one we’ve been building piece by piece since he moved here.This place, … Continue reading Geopolitics by Brandy McKenzie
