Despite a notice in the paper
Requesting contributions
In lieu of flowers,
They continued to arrive,
LEVI & ME by Cynthia Lewis-Jones
LEVI & ME by Cynthia Lewis-Jones My genes are customized denim: unique, a one-off design. The Left leg is forty shades of green, tough, durable, for roaming in wild, damp places. The right is practical, calm as red-white-&-blue, sailing the seas of maritime history Yet black as ebony, vibrating secrets of imperial angst in […]
Coffee by Tim Heron
He rolls off the sofa
Stumbles into the kitchen
The table’s a riot
2 a.m. by Michael Pacholski
2 a.m. by Michael Pacholski so still a hummingbird fluttered only once in its sleep and was hushed by nest-neighbors as the only motorcycle in town zoomed from one junction road to the next ripping the air collecting solitudes as fields of soy and fallow corn contemplated ripeness and the looming winter
For Semimaru by Grace Andreacchi
Twin blossoms bowed
by the weight of white beauty
Untitled by Austin Bagwell
Untitled by Austin Bagwell All I want is to lose myself, to drown in the ink. If life could be still long enough, if I could find the right cliff, my words would flow forth like a war cry, like a kiss. ### Austin Bagwell, 21, is from Amarillo, Texas. His work has appeared in […]
Rewind to Byzantium by Andrew J. Stone
Fall.
15 centuries
into mosaic
hammered gold
Valentine’s Day by Martha Hayes
Valentine’s Day by Martha Hayes After our birthday party, I took the picture. You and your new bicycle: a shiny ten-speed whose spokes spun fireworks when the sun caught you in flight. My new lens drew you out of that winter day. My nose pressed against the cold plastic like your first signs of womanhood […]
Under a Daylight Moon by Mary Rogers-Grantham
Under a Daylight Moon by Mary Rogers-Grantham At noon, a woman plants lilies. She hums, as if expecting someone to join her. The moon is pale, the sunlight pristine, an earthworm pushes through a fresh mound of black dirt. The woman inhales spring. She hums again. ### Mary Rogers-Grantham’s poems have appeared in various publications, […]
The Grapefruit by Lauren Hunt
The Grapefruit by Lauren Hunt My fingers barely close around the grapefruit. I feel the weight and size of it, how the rind gives And stretches and rolls in the palm of my hand, The missing half of a long forgotten morning prayer. This grapefruit is a memory, aged but precious. I am a child […]
Dancing in Trance: Drenched in the Divine by Kavita Venkateswar
Dancing in Trance: Drenched in the Divine by Kavita Venkateswar Flutes of the bamboo tremble The thrum of the gamelan Resonates under my feet Strike of the mallet Metallophones ring Strings, rebab, rise In symphony Cacophony I tremble Flutter Quake Crash! It is she She comes for us Crash of the gong wadoan pendulous breasts […]
blind hope blues by by henry 7. reneau, jr
blind hope blues for trena riley by henry 7. reneau, jr the blues toil within a gilded, circular vacuum. when the Mason jar tilt sideways hobbled lightening bugs illuminate the world inside their glass cage with the last remaining light casting a shadow on the sun, beauty within emptiness, hidden in plain sight. we are […]
Killer Cocktails and Marshall Swindles by Jillian Garner
Killer Cocktails and Marshall Swindles by Jillian Garner I want to know what if feels like to play chess with death. Walking into that shared hospital room everyday, Your killer cocktails waiting to creep into your prosthetic veins. To kiss your whimsical strands, They’ll be gone soon anyways. To shuffle to the bathroom, Your […]
Untitled By Jennifer-Crystal Johnson
Untitled By Jennifer-Crystal Johnson Nearing the edge Of sanity And every dream Flashes before her With a pure Intensity The beauty of Reality Inside out *As published in Strangers with Familiar Faces ### Jennifer-Crystal Johnson is originally from Germany, but was raised all over. She has published one novella under her former last name, The […]
Blues by Brendan Sullivan
Blues by Brendan Sullivan Morning comes in widow’s weeds while gloom settles to the bottom of my cup, begging to be stirred, wondering why my chin has fallen over the rim and how come my feet take forever to shuffle over floorboards and dust. I am vacant, worn down – just this mud-bare rug, heels […]