Poetry

Crash at Intersection 2 on June 16, 2005 I always thought it would sound like a screaming crunch,like aluminum cans mashing slowlyin the closing maw of a vicegrip.Or that the stiff skin of the windshieldwould instantly lightning into a network of neurons.Instead it was a thick metal taplike two robots high-fivingand then afterwards, worse than …

Crash At Intersection 2 on June 16, 2005 and Summer Weekends by Devon Neal Read More »

The Knight’s Legend Seventy years of his life spawns aflashback in the backgroundas he sips a cup of coffee in the verandah.His grandsons request himto narrate a fairytale;with a giggle on his face and resiliencein his hearthe tells his grandsons that life is not a fairytale.So, he narrates them the tale of a knightwhose sword …

The Knight’s Legend by Ali Ashhar Read More »

COMMUNE ENEMY NO.1 My newly assigned caravan welcomes mewith hotel chocolates on the pillow, which,on closer inspection, are droppings of rat shit.It’s beautiful, I gasp.The abandoned wasp nests, vintage décor.The mud puddle outside, my private pool.I’d give it five stars on Yelp. This is luxurynext to the shithole I just crawled out from.I spruce our …

Commune Enemy No. 1 and other poems by Carson Wolfe Read More »

Ephesus Unleaded and Diesel Christmastree farmsome daysher savior appears gracelessfrom plateattends day serviceand the night masskeeping options open polymer barrier who’s insidethe mascot costume expandingconsciousnesstalking shop Jerome Berglund, recently nominated for the Touchstone awards and Pushcart Prize, has many haiku, haibun and haiga exhibited and forthcoming online and in print, most recently in the Asahi Shimbun, Bottle Rockets, Frogpond, and …

Haiga, Ephesus by Jerome Berglund Read More »

The future. I’m driving from work.it’s three on a friday. I’m onthe naas road, coming uptoward the new red cow round-about, heading to april – into the weekendand may. the sky ahead loomswith a shadow of stormclouds,heavy as piled dirty laundry;all shirts in a tangle at the footof a bed. something’s on the radio,but I …

The future and other poems by DS Maolalai Read More »

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CANCER A missing piece catches a curious eye.Crutches clacking on dirty tile floor,A single boot follows with a solid thump. She tenses as you move closer to her.Pity and pride shine in your eyesWith words already formed on your lips. She knows how this works by nowStanding taller, readying for inevitableWords …

Thank You For Your Cancer and other poems by Cheyenne Heflin Read More »

LIGHTS AWAKE Street lights awakeas dusk blushesacross the cloud cover. Silhouettes mergewith nightfall,and shadows teasea monster under the bed kept hiddenby street light haloes. EARS WARM A woman wrapsa green scarfaround her head. Corn huskenvelopskernels beneathkeeping ears warm. Diane Webster’s work has appeared in “Verdad,” “North Dakota Quarterly,” “New English Review” and other literary magazines. She …

Lights Awake and Ear’s Warm by Diane Webster Read More »

Mother’s Soap Bar Never full like the moon or bright as the sun.An oval disc, a flat zero sat on herplastic pronged soap holder, getting smalleruntil nothing reigned in the bathroom. Enough for her, though, born in a ghettowhere, instead of lamb they gota chicken thigh and murmured over the boneasking questions God would never …

Mother’s Soap Bar and Other Poems by Judith Skillman Read More »

Little Words Apply You claim the view of the pondshould be framed by shrubs or treesand simply colored for children. Little words apply, ticklingthe back of my throat so I cough.No, I’ve been swallowing tiny flies that sizzle in saliva and dievengeful black deaths. The lightis too yellow for June. Regret, if you must, leaving …

Little Words Apply and Other Poems by William Doreski Read More »

Normandy Picking you up aside abandoned asphaltrusted telephone booths with glass wallsold western motels & their chipped wood while mother was bound to her wheelchair &father patiently awaited your return from his caskettears flooded the cemetery from below bloodshot eyes & veins tougher than scarabsyou grabbed my wallet from atop the counterand became a poltergeist …

Normandy by Brandon Shane Read More »