I saw the slenderestcrescent today, hungbetween buildingsas light gave wayto dusk; the morewe know the lesswe know, the mindblown open, a cliffedge then air, madeopen again (the soulthat is) for business Continue reading A Poem for the End of the Year by Rufo Quintavalle
Even though they had good lighting,my medallions are coming downI was preparing my bestWell, I just wasn’t expecting itThere’s something that’s exceptionally hard about all this To be completely honest,I do things One at a timeAnd they just aren’t expecting itThey just aren’t accepting this There’s something graceful now about it allIt’s honestI didn’t feel like I lost anythingYou could’ve put it thereEven though I … Continue reading Princess and Darkness I knew best by Colleen Surprise Jones
Because of The Times We Live In, there are a great many things one might shy away from uttering aloud. Lest the real-life Thought Police, who haven’t yet been able to infiltrate the mind, call one out for being offensive, affronting and generally wrong as a person. Among such potential offenses is indicating, in any way, that someone who misuses language is, well, a bit … Continue reading “A Veritable Minefield of Malapropisms”: Benoit Blanc Dares to Say, in the Current Climate, That Misuse of Language Equates to Idiocy
There appears to be an inane assumption,When we prize too dearly the groans people makeAnd their pain and complaint and compunctionOf some less tender portions of their fate; It would seem that people don’t like the bother;I’ve met young women afraid to leave their roomsBecause they know what a burden they are to others:They believed too well the words others used. Just look at the … Continue reading Inconvenience by Zeke Greenwald
I am writing an ode for youour approaching twenty twenty-threeto appease the wrath in your genes,a hereditary trait,to appeal to the demented elements for much-needed clemency,to entreat the clashing warlordsto cease their animosities,to spare our infants displacementand drowning across traversed seas, to annul the prophetic proclamationsof a postmodern Madame Sosostris. I am writing an ode for you despite our embedded despondencyover the plagues that stride the avenuesof underdeveloped … Continue reading 2023 by Susie Gharib
Macy goes through her scribbled “to-do” lists, adding forgotten or neglected items from previous ones onto the current master list. Then she reviews things she texted to herself and writes those down too. Beyond belief. How can she ever complete it? And new tasks are always incoming. Separately, she has a running internal monologue of reminders playing on a loop: Do the laundry, pick up … Continue reading Axis of Distraction by Max Talley
Dear Shirts, You have always been my most reliable companion, you are always there for me even when Pants are being difficult. You always seem to fit me well, although it does get on my nerves when it feels like you should either be tighter or looser, not the in-between stage that you are. We’ve never had any problems…although you, no offense, are probably the … Continue reading Letters to My Clothes by Ryder LeVieux
My fascination with the human body reaches far beyond the obsessive. It is the only thing in this world that we really feel, the rest of the world imposes itself onto it. It took me years to really feel my body, perhaps because I spent so many years detached from it. I spent so much of my time squashing down the pain that haunts my … Continue reading The Pinching Place by Ryder LeVieux
First, you want the tattooThen, the tattoo wants you, and so it keeps you—Labeled; from this point on, you’re labeledYou’re stamped; your stamp is permanent, a “skin ID” that’s called “charisma”Charismatic you, colorful you, rebellious youExpress yourself in pictographs, you make yourself the canvasThe images live on; they live, on youYou: the Art Show, you: the mobile GalleryYou the one who’s owned by the tattoos. Continue reading Marked by Lance Nizami
I don’t know how it always seems to happen to me. I find myself in a living condition where, out of nowhere, the building will suddenly “require” (as if) some massive overhaul on its exterior. The kind of overhaul where the coterie of workers is staring you directly in the face right outside the window, liable to make lewd gestures if you look back for … Continue reading There Is Absolutely No Empathy For the Writer When It Comes to Construction Work Infecting Their Space
