Category: Poetry

Michael Sikkema Haunted Passages Poem: “How to Be a Haunted House”

1 After the first rainshove up what’s beenburied in the flowerbedsThe teeth. The toy trucksThe steak knife 2 Use yourfaceto bendthe others 3 Bleed brighter 4 Stay inthe sharp partof the storyuntil it hurtsright. Findthat smallvoice andstretch it 5 Fog the changes 6 Manifest your walkersin earlier clothes 7 No neon 8 No fanny packs…
“Every Theatre Has a Ghost,” a poem for Haunted Passages by Heather Lang-Cassera

—for a former Siegfried & Roy stagehand You were the one to cut the illusionist himself in half with your followspot; to light him at low level; to hold the cable with perfect tension in the dark, before the shift in zenith, and then coil quickly hand over hand; to walk past mirrors, O, such…
Cindy Savett: Three Haunted Passages Poems

Rachel and Mother Speak Their Lines Clay Mother,drop down through me darkly, lash my winds toyour breast, swaddle my singed urge forendlessness, Blind Mother who stumbles over my ransomed pulse. Rachel, I stagger through trembling grades of your silence,weave torn time with your spent breath; stay etched, child, on my yellow-edge days. Sky Daughter, you…
Two Poems by Jason Phoebe Rusch

White Civilization In the wild, mothers eattheir young. Wolves maul those who disagree. Whydo we believe ourselves to be tender, reasoned,impartial? Why are we surprised by our feral, ouramoral, project our primeval onto those we rape and savage?We gratify ourselves. That is what animalsdo. Bare teeth and claws, hold each other down. The metric beingpower,…
John-Michael Bloomquist: Four Father Nescio Poems for Haunted Passages

Father Nescio and the God Pill—after Carl Sagan When the machines grew all our foodand drink, there was no need to workor study. We lived like passengersin a self-driving car traveling without adestination. When Christ, grieved over ourrestlessness, came back into our lives,she gave us Theophorin, a gel capsule of slicknanotech-spiders that wove us into…
Two Poems by Nancy Hightower

Resurrectionfor Jericho Death always wins. Despite sunsetand a blood moon calling for magic,there’s a small body leftin the field of lilacsand still more bodiesadrift on a forgotten sea,and he sings their namesin remembrance, wears a crownof flowers with half-cocked grinbecause tomorrow bringsnew tragedies like a promise. Still, he believesin the prophecy of rain,blesses the descentfrom…
Flavor Town USA Poetry: “On Eggs” by Evan Williams

Scrambled poached over easy over medium over hard sunny side up hard boiled soft boiled screaming with tabasco with salsa with toast with ketchup omelette omelet omlet om nom nom let benedict pope benedict catholic eggs fertilized unfertilized Rocky Balboa eggs ostrich eggs emu eggs fish eggs caviar cavalier to spend so much golden eggs …
“Friendship Noses,” a Flavor Town USA poem by Adam Coday

The moment it’s worth it, I’ll eatthe pickled Brussels sprouts. —the moment I prefer the needleto fix the wrinkles, or go full hamand fulfill the pact. —the moment I’m willingto endure the accidentagain, only near an edge this timeon a floating bridge as I regrethaving put the glass-shatter-rescuing thingin the glove compartment, fucken seat belt,and…
Bad Survivalist: Three Poems by Rikki Santer

Alteration Love Finds Neighbors turn into bears, golden vanilla coats, curriedyawns, yellow teeth. We stroll through backyards, aroundboxwood fences. At the party we hunker into a worn couchinside a screened front porch. It’s a plague, someone mutters,wash your hands in ways you’ve never done before.In the morning, I’m a banshee snoring. Bursts of tiny breathsagainst…