Fathoming the Abyss: Donna Dallas’ Megalodon by J. Khan

“Sharks are as primordial as fear itself.”-Willow Defebaugh The megalodon was a massive shark, with six-foot jaws and triangular teeth up to seven inches long. Such a creature serves as a fitting emblem of Donna Dallas’ latest book, named in the extinct beast’s honor. In her title poem, Dallas explores her metaphorical relationship to this massive, shadowy creature that lurks beside her. Megalodon represents the destructive evil … Continue reading Fathoming the Abyss: Donna Dallas’ Megalodon by J. Khan

If It Took Us Down Then, What About Now? by Donna Dallas

On the days when my only friend came to visit her mom her mom would clean herself upthey’d sit tight knotted table in betweenand chain smoke Later after her mother left the table to shoot upmy friend would ring my bellwe’d head to the train trestle and sitwith legs dangled over the bridgesmoke all the cigs she clipped from her momwe threw rocks at the topof the freight trainas … Continue reading If It Took Us Down Then, What About Now? by Donna Dallas

Dollars by Donna Dallas

I want to stop thinking about $plagues me like it’s a deathan endshrouds any sense I could have had Bills gotta get paidI try to conjure up a geniefrom this lanternrub away at thesmooth brass carvingsthey meant somethingin another life perhapsnot this onenot this dayas I weepimpoverished Rub my fingers togetherfeel a grainy scrapeno dollars appearlook to the cloudsbloated and grayif I had a nickel … Continue reading Dollars by Donna Dallas

I Bit the Hand by Donna Dallas

The hand that fedclothedheldsmotheredthe same hand that posed itself as comfortfostered my birth I chewed into the knucklesthey crunched and poppedripped the hand offshook it with ragecame back later to lickdown to bone My savagery straight from the wombor nurtured so off the spectrumI was bled to believeI squeezed out taintedat eight I put a plastic bag over my headto diethe hand did not remove … Continue reading I Bit the Hand by Donna Dallas

Po by Donna Dallas

PoRiverthat’s the name yoain’t none of yo businesswhat went downor underin that riverdark navyslick sucked you ingot stuck thereday after dayjoint after joint We had nowhere else to gobut PoRiver–been a meeting place for a hundred yearsthey said it’s named after Edgar Allen Poe’cause some boy was serenading a girl rightat this very spotat the river’s edge where the wackaweeds tangle and knotdon’t know what … Continue reading Po by Donna Dallas