Natasha Kafka “The Curse of a Mirror”
Natasha Kafka The Curse of a Mirror I looked at the mirror and saw hundreds of you. Natasha Kafka is a large small creature living under the sea and writing poetry to make her father Triton joyful as...
View ArticleWinston Plowes “The Dark Side of the Street”
Winston Plowes The Dark Side of the Street She says one day she’ll put a sail up and swap sides, shoulder her way into our terrace and get more sun. Winston Plowes is a Yorkshire boatman who scribbles...
View ArticleLaura Gregory “When They Ask Why You Didn’t Stop Him”
1 of 5 in a series Laura Gregory When They Ask Why You Didn’t Stop Him You’ll want to explain how the alarm sounds like a dishwasher looping in the next room, hushing “not you, not you” and who would...
View ArticleLaura Gregory “Imperative”
2 of 5 in a series Laura Gregory Imperative You understood when his smile said don’t poke holes in the boat and blame the river.. Laura Gregory likes to aim high.
View ArticleLaura Gregory “Decisions, Decisions”
3 of 5 in a series Laura Gregory Decisions, Decisions Thrashing or still weeping or carrying on unarmed or disarmed, silenced or willfully mute, deft or dull, a razor cuts either way. Laura Gregory...
View ArticleLaura Gregory “On Good Days”
4 of 5 in a series Laura Gregory On Good Days Thrashing or still For long stretches you’ll forget when breath finds an easy loop from lips to lungs, when legs glide, when both knees hinge like greased...
View ArticleLaura Gregory “Pull”
5 of 5 in a series Laura Gregory Pull Years later when you pass steep stair wells, empty elevator shafts gaping black and bottomless, wood chippers gnashing, train tracks vibrating invisible math—...
View ArticleLaura Gregory: Series
Laura Gregory (series) When They Ask Why You Didn’t Stop Him You’ll want to explain how the alarm sounds like a dishwasher looping in the next room, hushing “not you, not you” and who would run from...
View ArticleAlan Toltzis “Goldfish”
1 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Goldfish They grew waddling fat— orange and white globes gliding through green waters to feast on insects and algae, flakes and pellets tossed into the pond, their own...
View ArticleAlan Toltzis “Beggars”
2 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Beggars Habit taught them greed gulping at food’s satisfying promise whenever I neared sending shadows across the surface that drew their pleading lips into the alien...
View ArticleAlan Toltzis “Binge”
3 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Binge Where I saw thin and yellowing locust leaves skittering through air like celebration, they saw something that might be gorged upon— swallow, spit, swallow again....
View ArticleAlan Toltzis “63.8 Degrees North”
4 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis 63.8 Degrees North Earth angled into its inhospitable orbit tilting farther from the sun the water stiffened as its molecules expanded, aligned, slowed, crystallizing...
View ArticleAlan Toltzis “Deep Winter”
5 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Deep Winter Locked below a thickening block of ice, the fish slowed too, drifting downward to wait, weightless in watery space, amid cold blankets of sludge and debris,...
View ArticleAlan Toltzis (series)
Alan Toltzis (series) Goldfish They grew waddling fat— orange and white globes gliding through green waters to feast on insects and algae, flakes and pellets tossed into the pond, their own eggs and...
View ArticleVivian Wagner “Small Talk”
Vivian Wagner Small Talk “It snowed earlier,” I say to my neighbor, and he nods, says, “Yeah, I saw that,” as we both look up at the grey sky, our dogs straining on leashes toward spring. Vivian Wagner...
View ArticleVivian Wagner “Pre-Op”
Vivian Wagner Pre-Op You’re on a gurney, prepped, feet under a blanket warmed with energy that might or might not be the sun’s, and through you I see my mother, also on a hospital bed, feet beneath...
View ArticleNatalie Jarrett “Augury”
Natalie Jarrett Augury I find it hard to distinguish between the faces of birds and plague masks these days. Natalie Jarrett impatiently awaits her second semester of senior year.
View ArticleHowie Good “How to Prepare for Heartbreak”
Howie Good How to Prepare for Heartbreak Summoning up a kind of rage, stubbornly walk, or even crawl, across a frozen sea and then pass through a hole in a fence, on the other side of which it’s dusk,...
View ArticleF.J. Bergmann “Open to Interpretation”
F.J. Bergmann Open to Interpretation Well, it could be a metaphor for sex, but I prefer to think of it as representing the experience of being sacrificed on the altar of the great god Pan and then...
View ArticleC G Holder “If Not”
C G Holder If Not If I cannot make a poem from the word cromlech then there are no wizards nor hidden realms nor doorways waiting in the bland landscape. C G Holder lives in confusion, a synonym for...
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