Do you remember that first week in Taipei when we went to Caroline’s party? It was during the super typhoon, and all the schools were shut, and we guzzled beer in the kitchen, and I said, “We should go outside.” And your eyes glistened, and the dark rain beat against the windows, and we pulled… Read More “Wild and Soft” by Katie Coleman
The wars ate the 14-year-olds. Such were the days, when young boys wielded swords and died in these dusts. Politicians, drunk in the revelry of power and greed, sent more and more elderly and the young to join the army to fight senseless battles in the name of the King. Unbeknownst to whose wars they… Read More “The Moon and The Magic” by Mehreen Ahmed
“Blue Harmony” by Claude Monet (1893) I’m a city girl, myself,grew up within spitting distanceof the George Washington Bridge,accustomed to the hulking gray of buildings, the rush of shoulders and elbowson crowded sidewalks, and strap-hangingon the subway back in my NYU dayswhen tokens were a quarterand Joseph Papp did Shakespeare in Central Park amid the… Read More “Rouen Cathedral, Morning Sun” by Donna Pucciani
I am falling into a pink sky morning. Earth is awakening in this northern hemisphere. I will leave my spaceship, step out onto unknown streets. I am wearing my best suit. It masks my fear of meeting with earth ancestors if they are at home. In my hand I hold a red puppet doll. It’s… Read More “Second-Chance Puppet” by Margaret Kiernan
Gathered debris blocks by bricks by bracket placement by brazen bravado mastering the art of evil eye penetration Six spent silver orbs tongue the ancient wound calcified and classified by distinction, rank, number, sign, sigil, creed, color, and other various degrees of cockamamie Velvet wonders and indigo skylines blue cotton candy in a daydream where… Read More “Of Shindigs and Hootenannies” by Scott Thomas Outlar
Lost in the darkness of night,Hearts pound fiercely side by side,Beating a rhythm of love in our ears.It is a magic moment,When two lovers speak an unwritten language.Arms encircle waists fleshy and warm;The hardness of your male chest against my cheek excites me,The fine curling hairs soft against my skin.Your broad back, masculine and strong,… Read More “Magic Moment” by Dawn Pisturino
After my trip to Paris, I re-jigged my playlistNow it’s full of opera classics, Stravinsky & Claude Debussy Electric soul & bluesy jazz,rap music & nouveau rockOld chansons & val musettes,Serge Gainsbourg’s risqué duets. Copyright © 2024 Jeanna Ní RíordáinAll Rights Reserved
Waves of radiation unwrapthe pale of perspiring leaves.The hiss of a simmering noonmimics the drone of a machine.The hush of a breathless afternooncoalesce close by the skin.Smell of its whispering hangsin the particles of stupefied breeze.Lights inject entropy intothe pores of an indisposed day.On the parched tongue vaporized sweat abandons a saline taste.In an unconditioned… Read More “Summer” by Amit Shankar Saha
Our lives on earthAre often like a pendulum,Swinging between extremities,Between love and hate,Day and night,Sun and rain,Fire and ice,Joy and sorrow…Pendulum swings,Creating chasmsBetween the haves and have-nots,Between whites and blacks,Between tongues.Between nations.Between religions.Between humans.Our world today is hung betweenExtreme love and extreme hate!Wars are bornFrom this extremity,So are terrorism,Which we call extremism.Once you learn the… Read More “PENDULUM” by Abhilash Fraizer
In so many ways I begged him not to leave me. I love you so much I’d—I didn’t fling myself at his feet, but it was many years ago and the lust evoked by Stephanie, I’d take any day over Steve’s love. The kiss of ferocity, slammed up against the wall, over the soft kiss under the… Read More “Adulteress” by Pete Mladinic
Track trade.They made money andThey made money soWhere did the money come from?Economics isCrazy people being crazy.Do not let itGet out of the house.Copyright © 2024 Trade by Dominik SlusarczykAll Rights Reserved
From our first cryon a cold steriledelivery room tableto the last deep inhaleWe are all on a long dark trainWe stop get offstretch our legsWe get back onhoping for a better destinationWe stop to enjoya little life herea lot of life therealways aware that we are still on boardAt points in timethe engine is dragging… Read More “TRAIN STATION” by Thasia Anne Lunger
I scrape some skin of wakefulness,let memories diffuse in sleep.I conjure up your existencein patterns kaleidoscopic.In the orchard of dreams I feelyour presence in bits and pieces.Each peel a fruit that fills the airbut nothing’s full and no one cares.Like grass peppered with orange zest,that swell the scent of sprinkled rain,all little things that I… Read More “Citrus Dream” by Amit Shankar Saha
Scrawls inan old notebook – automatic writingfrom my own ghost, a message readtoo late. Copyright © 2024 Steve BrisendineAll Rights Reserved
It is holiday season every day when you care from a distance or in the arms of a treasure. There is no dissing those grand souls thrown upon a quest to buy a token of pleasure. In rags they dream for a moment of a smile they will soon see on the lips of a… Read More “Looking for Something to Give” by Fabrice Poussin
I was your obedient slave all my life,waiting for your embrace.But you had other lovers.You only stayed a few hours.Some loves aren’t meant to be,or so I thought.I’d given up on you.But last night you stayed. Sleep. Copyright © 2024 Nolcha FoxAll Rights Reserved
—Reflections and realizations on Climate ChangeWhether I come from the landof dark and coldthis late eve it is hard to tellwhich way the ocean does swell,I recognize that the lands do wanttheir own way with all of ustonight the seas do roaras the lighthouse searches for we that soarthere is a basilica just under the… Read More “SUNKEN BASILICAS” by Ray Whitaker
It may have been an hour of thunder upon the realma moment of fierce warring between those medieval knightsbut the air was calm carried by a balmy summer bliss.The time was far removed for armors and lancesa glorious battle to decide the valor of great warriorsperhaps this king had left his heart for glory.A gentle… Read More “A King’s Death” by Fabrice Poussin
I cried for you for the last time last night,there is no feeling left when one’s lost the fight.You have won the battle,but you just lost the war.You will forage on the groundwhen in the sky you could soar.I have no words left, yet my voice has never been louder.The deepest wounds one has are… Read More “For The Last Time Last Night” by John RC Potter
Nestled between rugged ridgesof jagged mountain range,a valley of peace presides.Rock runs deep here.Secrets in stone lie silent,as choirs of pine forestssing psalms to the windand eternity echoes—ancient voices,one prayer. Copyright © 2024 Diane FunstonAll Rights Reserved
Dark out at four p.m.the road a sheet of ice,cars snow-covered likeigloo huts; why go outside?Have to get grub at thestore, drag it back on thesled, the huskies like thework and the cold; I giveeach a pastrami sandwichon rye, their names areMutt & Jeff, their eyeslight up in the dark, theysleep beside my bed andthey… Read More “Mush!” by Wayne F. Burke
This time is a grained glasswhere memories becometranslucent.Darkness is a parchmentwhere past permeatesthe present.Our meeting the plasma,luminescent in lightmicroscope. Inside each membraneyou mitochondrialdynamo.Outside each cell the heatcombusts sleep and curessomnolence.This night is laparoscopicfor a lucid dream toperforate. Copyright © 2024 Amit Shankar SahaAll Rights Reserved
I have looked at encyclopediasin ancient Greek, Latin, and Sanskritin search of the potion of magic soundsto speak the words that will echo intoeach fiber of your eternal being. I have scribed voluptuous lines ontoa chest still attempting to heavein India ink dark as final thoughtsdesperate tattoo artist screamingfor infinite colors of a lost rainbow.I… Read More “The Words I Need” by Fabrice B. Poussin
Chewers 