What is new must also be unexpected and not what we think is new— car crash, stalled lift juddering, bed of thumb slit open, blood the surprise that keeps on giving— or else there is no freedom from our conditioning: your body too heavy on mine; your kiss the same old […]
Poetry
Kiss
Bowl
by Cyril Wong
there is little we cannot accomplish without hearing our voices the music of not hearing voices not music but an atmosphere of existence a bowl of still water with white yellow orchids curled in a gesture of tenderness across its open mouth silence over original silence which invites the hum of phenomena shoring […]
#CAPTURE
by Heather Sweeney
The museum’s light was overrated I wanted to be a different person there Let’s have Old Fashioneds in the hotel bar & take selfies with our cocktails held high Ok Marcie please don’t smell my drink & wince I didn’t pray for you That’s what I learned from this That everything contains a distance There […]
#FEED
by Heather Sweeney
Can honesty go viral? The truth is that my casket Is a hot dog bun & the mirror Is reversed the truth is that someone Is haunting me from the future & I woke up with a cold sore Caked with glitter I woke up wedged In a garage full of lazy boys & lit […]
In Defense of My Yankee Boyfriend
by Rachel Stempel
in defense of my yankee boyfriend i want nothing more than randomized curvature from yours then his then yours again feign my line of questioning to drain chromosomal sacks of malcontent from every whatever i spit to flame. from the underbelly i settle hard swallows gauzed in sweat or other. i carve […]
When You’re Back
by Rachel Stempel
When you’re back, look to your left there’s a great deal of it spread thin though I’d like to scoop & saver, too, slather on the skin I had at seventeen. Bone dust setting spray keeps your ears pulled back keeps you younger than you need a certain charm […]
STICK ME IN THE TRUNK AND DRIVE ME AROUND AND TALK TO ME
by Kari Teicher
This poem was nominated for The Best of the Net. Hello doctor, I’m having bad thoughts. I want to call you on the phone and tell you about bleach and corn and suffering. I want you to tell me what to do, but don’t make me do it. Here is the problem: What if we […]
PULP
by Kari Teicher
A fat black raccoon falls, plunges dives into the compost bin. You let him. Why shouldn’t he have a little pleasure. A little oil and vinegar, a little dry cake. Everyone has been baking, so there are no more poppyseeds. Should you plant a field of opium, so you can make the lemon muffins that […]
My Cup Runneth Over
by Barbara Schwartz
1. After each successful night, a vampire bat regurgitates his nutrient goop into the mouth of his co-sleeper’s throat. Next time, one sister-in-the-struggle may fly forth, wings agape signaling triumph, and the once-sung hero, (now down-in-the-mouth) will have to wait 2. for her. My friend donated religiously when she was […]
The Ruptured
by Barbara Schwartz
Post-birth my mother needed to bathe three times a day After each I was to blow-dry the rupture with cool air roving over her blue translucence We […]
