It is not the hebenon that was distilledinto Old Hamlet’s earduring his elysian sleep, nor the toxic taxinethat ripples in the blood streamsof funereal yew trees. It is not The Stranglerof Martin’s A Song of Ice and Firethat constricts one’s throatwithout the aid of a hempen rope,nor the hemlock administered to Socrates’ brewto induce his doom. It is not the poisoned dartsthat feature in Sir Arthur … Continue reading Poisons by Susie Gharib
The curators gather round the inflatable chair,Knowing not how to seal the leak. Their efforts doomed to fail,for even if they patch the puncture, the act of repair ruins the chair.How do you fix something that was never meant to last? The furniture of my grandmother, on the other hand,was built to endure: heavy dark wood, breakfronts and clocks,a dining table with a small bell … Continue reading Legacy by Larry Kilman
i. We broke the bread along the coastline.The pieces first float alongthe white waves of the Pacific beforeit got swallowed downwith the sand and hope. ii. I don’t know when I stopped breathing,nor when my eyes rolled backand woke up with my right legbent outward. iii. I’m not awake enough to processwhat you’re whispering.I can only simply turn my headand look out at the water. … Continue reading Outlook by Naa Asheley Ashitey
To break down your wallsTo break through to youis the same as trying to reach 100 summitsClimbing and crawling your sidesrocks and dirt crumbling under my weightI try to move your boulders,snap the twigs blocking my way,winds blowing in all directionsrain beating down on my backthen come the blizzards hitting my faceyou try to knock me downyou try to keep me from going upyou don’t … Continue reading To Reach 100 Summits by Cithara Patra
A girl knows what it means to sit prettysqueeze her lips tight and smile wideher face painted pinkneck drenched in perfumeshe’s your perfect little dollyour toy to show off and play withuntil you’re bored so you throw her awayand go for the next doll in your sights A girl knows how to behavekeep up the spirits in the roomwhile hers is falling to piecesshe calms … Continue reading A Girl Knows by Cithara Patra
I lose a little bit of hopeevery day.It feels pretty good. Continue reading As I Get Older by Ron Riekki
Thank God it’s raining.The smokers go outsideand smoke.I wish they’d smoke in their homes.I wish they’d kill their family’s lungsinstead of mine.They smoke in front of my window.I can’t afford air conditioning.I wake up in the night,actually wake upfrom the smoke.Wake up coughing.But tonight it’s raining.They don’t smoke when it rains.Or they do,but not in front of my window.I pray for thunderevery day of my … Continue reading It’s Raining by Ron Riekki
After mowing the lawn, the garage needed a paint job. It was while painting that I discovered a mole on my forearm had turned to a shade of deep brown. I snapped a picture of it and sent it to GPT, which said I needed a topical OTC to treat skin inflammation. The second I applied it, the mole expanded, blossoming like a dahlia. I … Continue reading Must’ve Been a Hallucination by Peter Crowley
When winds surge from the west and the guts are unearthed, there is a warping of tides. The moon is decapitated and the torso’s pull emerges from the prefrontal cortex. One has achieved this pull through struggle, yet, by god, it exists. A decision has been made and coronated on a papist balcony overlooking the rabble. Decision stretches out its hand, shielding its eyes from … Continue reading Decision by Peter Crowley
A few weeks later, in the wee hours, you picture the woman of your life flung on her new lover’s DreamCloud scratching his back like a cheetah. She was your high priestess, your Holy Mother. But that ended when she stormed out—after you forgot to mention how brilliant her poem was, when you found comfort spending time on the sofa, and left muddy boot prints on the white hallway runner. … Continue reading A Split from Reality by Dale Champlin
