The Heart Cries Eternally by Ron Kolm

We had terrible fights, with littlepeace between the conflagrations.When we finally split up, I tossedmy wedding band down a sewer gratehoping I’d broken the circleof never-ending pain. Recently,after too many White Russians,I told a friend what I’d done years ago.“Damn,” he said, “You should have sold itto a jewelry store in the Diamond District.”“Nope,” I confessed. “Every time I wentto 47th Street, it was to spend money.I would … Continue reading The Heart Cries Eternally by Ron Kolm

Genna RivieccioApril 27, 20213 Comments

Essay

Lourdes Leon Reading bell hooks Has Some Weighty Implications

Among other casual bombshells in Lourdes Leon’s first Vanity Fair feature, one included, of all things, her reading list. For starters, it wasn’t necessarily imagined she would be “basic” enough to fuck with Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility. For another, bell hooks being name-dropped (specifically 2000’s All About Love: New Visions) seems, in many respects, vaguely traitorous to her own mother, who was the subject of … Continue reading Lourdes Leon Reading bell hooks Has Some Weighty Implications

Genna RivieccioApril 25, 2021April 25, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

The Dance by Snata Basu

My biggest dream is to not be lonely,among other things, of course.Such a big portion of me struggles to reason the outcome,the past and future all seem a blind torch,where am I now? a giant theatre.Now begins the lovely show.Oh so lovely, the dance of recovery,nauseating, and awfully slowSo compelling is the rhythm and the music,sick and revolting,so incredibly alone.I must dance, here and now,The … Continue reading The Dance by Snata Basu

Genna RivieccioApril 23, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

Killshot by Xavier Jones

I’m packing every day. Don’t make me pull it outI’ve got you in my sights, but I’m not a sniperI’m staring you in the face. Let’s go cowboyWho’s the quickest on the draw?Someone’s life might end before this standoff is overYou better not miss, because I won’tYou’ve clearly never saw La HaineWell this is the last sceneI’m Hubert, and this is for Vinz and AbdelNo … Continue reading Killshot by Xavier Jones

Genna RivieccioApril 21, 20211 Comment

Poetry

The Hinterland by Thomas Wells

Democracy devolves into tyranny, Plato cautioned.Flooded by the frigid torrent of factionalism,will we certify his prediction? Blinded by the prevarication of public discourse.Numbed by the inundation of disinformation.Crippled by the conspiracy of doubt.The real deep state festers in our cortex,a place where the charlatans of fallacyinvade,a dwelling where terrorists of mindtake control. But the terrain before us is vast.The dense forest and effulgent meadows ahead … Continue reading The Hinterland by Thomas Wells

Genna RivieccioApril 19, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

Life-Sparing Water by Xavier Jones

As the smoke rose their hypocrisy again fellDisguised as water that only further fueledAn inferno of consciousness and contemptFor clouds blown in on the winds of opportunismPassing to pretend for a rare momentTo be part of the collective effortTo support our fragile motherWhose love for her children and strangers alikeIs truly abundant and unconditionalGracious enough is she to overlook their faultsAs she was raised to … Continue reading Life-Sparing Water by Xavier Jones

Genna RivieccioApril 15, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

Vending Machine by Steve Denehan

It’s been one of those daysso, I decide to end itwith something from the vending machine wrappers and packetsprimary colorsso many, all good I settle on a Mars Barput the coins in the slotpress E4 the metal coil rotatesthe bar is pushed forwardonly to fall and rest against the glass I should have expected thatJesusI shake the machine, nope then, lightning strikesI put the last … Continue reading Vending Machine by Steve Denehan

Genna RivieccioApril 14, 20211 Comment

Poetry

Mm-Hmm by Steve Denehan

It’s been nearly two hours nowhe is still talkingI am still listeningafter the first hour I switched handsthe phone, heavier and heavierI’ll have to switch again soonthere has never been anyoneto talk so much and say so little the words pour from himtraveling down the wirehitting my ear like wingless birdshe runs through his greatest hitsgrowing up in Dublinall of his jobsmoney troubleswhat a guy … Continue reading Mm-Hmm by Steve Denehan

Genna RivieccioApril 13, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

I am… by Xavier Jones

I once could say it, not knowing what I was sayingThose words came as naturally as breathingAnything contrary to the truth they taught me was blasphemyAnd under He in whom I trusted, I would take any crusade I choked on those words as my illusions went upIn the smoke of the very passion blazing inside of meMy beloved historiography had had its way with meAnd … Continue reading I am… by Xavier Jones

Genna RivieccioApril 11, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

Throwing Magnets by Hibah Shabkhez

In our shining steel sides they see Their faces lengthen and flatten,Their eyes bulge and shrink monstrously, Until they are nearly unselfed. Tossed into the sizzling air, we Snap together with a whirring,A wild glistening, that sets free The lambent shadows of the bulbs Continue reading Throwing Magnets by Hibah Shabkhez

Genna RivieccioApril 9, 2021Leave a comment