by Amanda Valerie Judd The oceans are a poem –The continuous ebb and flow of the tides,Stanza after stanza in the greatest poem ever written;Each wave a line, punctuated by dolphins,holding a different meaning for each coast it caresses;every word a grain of sand, spoken by the surf,before being tossed…
by Ivy Rozen This poem was originally published in Hot Pot Magazine. We ate avocadoson toast, in salads, with chips.We craved their pits.We saved them inventi plastic cups, logo fadingbut my mom’s misspelled nameremained in Sharpie. Tap water, lukewarm:only fill it half-way.Stab the heart with wooden stakesto hold it up,…
by Russell Rowland No hole is too smallfor a mouse to get into your head. First alarm might bea gnawing sound under floorboards.Treating the symptom, you poundon the floor. Sound stops,briefly. Then resumes. Poundingwill not stop it now. Or you find tiny black seedsin your sock drawer, inside a pianoyou…
by Nolo Segundo My friend Marco and I went out to for lunch, toa ramshackle little place, but my friend told methe food was great—and it was! Three differentchicken curries, a lovely lamb korma, with a half-dozen veggies, and mango drinks to wash it down. I suppose we visited the…
by E.J. Fawn A girl stands before me, donning a cobalt-colored dress. She turns to me silently, eclipsed in the typhoon of sundry blues, “Does this look good?” She asks me, hair fashioned in buns uneven. This girl is my friend, so frankly, I tell her no. The dress—we admire—has…
by Brooke Gebhardt You’ve never seen the worlduntil you’ve seen your mother cry. When pale white knucklesgrip the kitchen sink as she questionswhether to let you see. When hazel mixes with crimson, staringback at you, sparklingwith fresh tears. When lips quiver and shoulders shake,attacking the walls of your heart and…
by Antonio Eramo If fools rush in where angels fear to treadthen angels know not love nor sacrifice.I battle with this fool inside my headand try to seek out words to be concise.Yet heart cannot express through mere devicejust how divine life is when you are there.When you are there…
by Russell Rowland Sketchy is the restroomin this ramshackle arcade—almosta closet, dark—still, she has to go.Granddaughter, eight, insistsGrampy accompany her. I do— softened at her own wayof being those years young, her faiththat an elder man, retired,unremarkable, divorced, can causethe world to seem a safer place. Once we’re both inside,…
by Amanda Valerie Judd Despite its reputationas an early riser,I imagine there must be days,at least one or two,when even the Sunyawns in protestat the hourit must open the curtainson another morning.
by Marah McCarty she is quiet within her skin,although there is no definition for demureness in the Garden.she does not need to be courageous,feel the adversity which make women stagnate toGod’s greater plan.she is supple and pink,a canvas of the most impractical womanand mankind’s most perfect.he is robust, with large…