My journey took me toa place called Hopperand the last gas station in Americathat was owned by an actual human being.A windblown flag read “Ernie’s,”though that owner’s actual namewas John, just like mine.Oh well…there’s actual and there’s actual.In the window of his tiny officewas an old rusty signfor a brand of gas and oil called “White Eagle.”I took a photograph to save its future. I … Continue reading Hopper by John Grey
No particular homemeans every placeis my home.And what roof could carrythe sky’s coattails?But, some nights,the stars are particularly starless,the fresh airbreathes darkerthan bad whiskeyand the doorways I sleep inare narrower, more confiningthan any roomthese bones have laid up in.And where’s the romance,when I smell worse than I feeland everyone who’s out forwhat they can getstill looks at those with nothinglike they’ve got something to give.My … Continue reading The Travails of a Homeless Man by John Grey
I. Can I just be like the mothers of the 80s and the 2020s, and blame Manson for the cocktail of pills I shoot back in the morning and the caffeine I snort during the two p.m. slump. II. I told my mother I’m still a virgin and she sounded just as disappointed as the day we came home the next day after revealing to my dad she knew about his affair. III. I say I am … Continue reading Furthermore, Moreover, Etc. by Naa Asheley Ashitey
this temptation to step off the edge / and fall weightless, away from the world —“For the Sake of Strangers” by Dorianne Laux It makes me feel somehow betterwhen there’s a name for it—arachnophobia, schadenfreude, sonder for example—those feelings that sit at least two standard deviationsfrom the bell curve center of feelings whereangry, sad and happy live. A man once told me about his compulsion … Continue reading Weightless by Jennifer Rood
Like slimy gutter rats, Britain’s ICE agents slid through the back fence targeting a chic Indian restaurant,its owner embodying “British values,”employing competent people disregarding their ethnicity: meritocracy at its best Mandira, lauded by Britain’s culinary finest—Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and Channel 4—was on holiday, delegating managementto those in whom she believedto those in whom she trusted the ICE rats with two pit bulls and Surrey police,who think … Continue reading Mandira’s Kitchen by Floyd Humphrey
—after Rita Dove’s “Girls on the Town, 1946” Thirty seconds across the threshold music grabs your neck & shouldersshakes you free from questions— your mother’s worried eyesyour father’s furrowed brow. Across the darkened room you recognize faceslit by swirling silver flashes— red lips laughing, eyes outlined in diamond glitter.These are your people, your sisters in youth. Close your eyes— ease your body onto the dance floor.Let the music envelop you. Now perfume, … Continue reading A Deeper Ruby and Smoldering Eye by Dale Champlin
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
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
