by Ilari Pass Anyone can say that they’re happy, but not everyone can say that they’re content. To believe the mind is not a snake, to accept the hidden thump of the heart, to rush without hesitation—this is Eden.
Poetry Posts
Banish and Abandon the Algebra of Blame
by Colin Dodds Maybe you’re just older Maybe you shouldn’t have driven that last thousand miles on the soft shoulder Getting through the night can be a kind of art. The truth is negotiable you just never know which parts. Maddened that you can’t choose the things you keep, and…
I Don’t Care to Believe Him
by Lindsay Flanagan There’s a taint on the air, like electricity that’s nearly burned Through the black pavement that my feet are shuffling along Its black fingers have curled around my throat Even while one keeps stroking the back of my neck But I have…
Winterberry Red
by Daniel Potter A pond, the depression where Many a Summer’s inflatable pools were laid, is now A sheet of silvery ice and a downy blanket of snow. Grass still green and Autumn leaves lie beneath As crystalline relics, sugared memories An inquisitive child Tosses aside both itchy, blue wool…
Book Spine Poetry Competition Winners
We are excited to announce the winners of our April Book Spine Poetry Competition! A big thank you to all those who submitted to the competition and those who took the time to vote on their favorite submission! Since the first and second place winners were but a vote apart,…
The Next Door Neighbor / The Unfinished Work
by Joseph Mills The Unfinished Work For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863… – William Faulkner, Intruders in the Dust I had been to Gettysburg before,…
A Sonnet to Shakespeare / Salmonella Mouths
by Christy Bailes A Sonnet to Shakespeare If I be your mistress, hand me the sun; let my red lips leave a kiss on your skin. If I be snow, touch my sweet cherry breasts, crisp delicacies for you to taste. If wires be rough on your scratchy face; let…
Pendulum
by Mariah Rackliff There is a battle in my head. Daily filling me with dread. I hear a voice say, “Let me in!” “No!” Says another. “I win!” “I’m depression, I think I’ll stay. How long the visit? I can’t say.” “Come closer dear, now just lie down.” I oblige,…
Entropy
by Ilari Pass Dawn, the sun sliding above the mountains. The fog floats on top of the lake, morning dew. Everything emerges, fresh and fragrant. Insects burr, the campfire is almost out; hearing its sizzle and whistle means a man can leave. A bird flies, heading to the lake, disappearing…
The Sweat Bird
by Christy Bailes Drought-rain slips off the predator until five-hundred wet pounds make him stand ground, spread like a picked-apart fan. Yellow beads turn his oily, spiked head, as I fly past, sweating ocean salt; it runs like interrupted feathers pulled from God’s washing machine, that dries now in cellophane…