Category: Poetry

New Poetry for Haunted Passages: “Shadow Wolf” by Martine Bellen

We follow the she-wolf across sky as she crosses overAnd those left on land howl and beamAt storm wolves that fall from the tallest trees:Redwood wolves, wind spirits, wolverines,And goats wearing wolf coats.How ambush devours. Shadow wolfSwallows reflection or illuminationIn darknessNo wolf no worldJust shades * Even as a child she believedIn her selves…
Poetry by Jason Fraley: Two Secret Machines from the Future

Secret Machine #1 The machine’s pull cord, not unlike a lawnmower or teddy bear’s, winds for miles. It’s resplendent, glossy like fishing line still wet, a sharp burst of blinding light when viewed from the right angle. It disappears periodically into the earth’s dry clefts, only to reemerge somehow brighter. The pull cord bows in several sections, burdened…
Side A Poetry: “buzzing my lips into” by daniel joseph

buzzing my lips into i put plastic grocery bags over my ripped shoes, bending myself, hitched up on the eroding edge of the front stoop, breathing more than i should, feeling the pain of bending and tuggingnear the empty loops of my sagging pants, but i feel joy today, for muddy spring is here. hallelujah, so be it. the…
New Poetry: “Work and Punishment” by Sara Cosgrove

When I returned homefrom the interview(the one that made sense),I brought a bouquet. I brought hope and a funny story.I brought the beginning. Months later,when I returned home from work,I brought details …about my colleagues’ behavior,about following me into the restroom,about giving me strange tasks,about their token-friends-with-disabilities stories.Except their friends were smarter, sicker, and thinner…
Side A Poetry: “Dream Lover” by Paul Ilechko

Dream Lover The people you love the most are the ones who come to mind when you wake up in the darkness unsure of where you are and how you got to be thereit’s as stygian as the movie theater downtown in that brief period before the titles start an interval that feels almost dreamlike…
Poetry for Side A: “And Then It Died” by Heather Pegas

And Then It Died The presentation of the thing was … Spongy Friable Feathered, and Cold. (It had not been looking great for some time.) When we tried to pick it up, it was seen to … Cower, Whimper Hiss, and Snarl. (It gazed upon us in sad disbelief.) For the longest time, we had…
Bad Survivalist Poetry: “Dream Mechanics (non troppo)” by Haitian/Helena Jiang

(I know nothing about mechanics and would not. But I know that)It wasn’t you who played chess with me that time, and it wasn’t chessbut the kind of marbles that could and are better used as bullets,letting go of and no return, now that I come to think of it, like we used to playpingpong…
Side A Poem: “Preservations below the Moon” by Salvatore Difalco

Preservations below the Moon “We belong to the earth.”That’s the mushrooms talking.Someone else is sobbing in the shadows,hiding behind piano fingers. “I need to go home.”It ain’t happening, mate.You drove us into a treeand all the colors clashed. Let me tip you overand see if you can roll up again.It’s not winter yet.That explains the…
Side A Prose Poem by Jeffrey Hermann: “Someone’s Making Money Off My Old Problems, Someone Else Is Charging Me for New Ones”

When I call to make a fuss everyone claims to be a manager. Writing for a living is as easy as throwing up in the toilet. Every morning I flip the lid and wait. I once wrote an essay that needed no revisions. The theme was, c’mon, this life? Look harder. Try harder. My skeleton…