Category: Poetry

“The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living; or, Selfies,” a poem by Jeff Alessandrelli

When asked what he would saveIf his house was on fireJohn Cocteau replied, “The fire.”A convicted arsonist,The work that Cocteau admiredWas of the variety that revealed itself immediatelyAnd then changed such a revealOver time.Fire’s hot, burns things.Each flame understandsAn illusory worldWhere everything isThat’s the caseAnd nothing isEver hidden.Conjecture is confusing:How the thought of what might…
Three Poems by Kim Kyung Ju (Translated by Jake Levine)

Hear the Mackerel Cry In a deep place grown flesh is filled to the brim. If you see the mackerel grill, at first, the mackerel’s lips burst. Ahhhh . . . and pop. Sprinkling from the mouth, black fictions flow freely. Like the one bullet in a thousand that weeps in the flame, the ocean…
A Poem by Rob Gray: “The Rhododendron and Camellia Year Book (1966)”

—for Richard and Frances Chiem 1 We needMore men like RichardSons, brothers, uncles andFathers like Richard We needMore women like RichardDaughters, sisters, aunts andMothers like Richard We needMore poets like RichardPoems like RichardBooks like Richard We needMore metaphors like RichardWe needMore architects like Richard To build sustainable and affordable housing like RichardBungalowsChurchesMosques Tenement buildingsSkyscrapersSynagogues andSupermarkets…
Three Poems by Jasmine An

Film Analysis Techniques Whose perspective does the camera represent? Whose eyes? I stare. How am I any different than the hungry sockets of men? What if my hand slips between my legs? What if I moan? Which sounds are diegetic? What if I moan? The music is supposed to be Mandarin. The soldiers are shouting…
“Torture Horse,” a poem by Jessie Janeshek

See my body moveso many nuclear beauties in tinfoildraping the rage. My mouth is too smallto matter to anyone.Just eat the hooves, the woods, you can leave Niagara Falls a restoration labyrinthine a curvy woman in a wasp costumein the copper hallway. Sometimes I’m absorbent or my poison failsand I try to bite off your…
Poetry by Brian D. Morrison: “The Idea of Canaries”

Psychoanalysis tells us the secretof healthy living: speech. Unspokenthoughts can travel at light speedramped to the power of 1938, the yearFreud’s four sisters were not savable. He joked, I can most highly recommendthe Gestapo to everyone. He could saylittle more and filled his throatwith canaries. The birds would sing,and then silence. Canary after canary stopped…
Three Poems by Brandon Shimoda

Blind Children What is the first thing you remember?Kicking my sisterMy father hitting me with sticksLying next to my motherBeing hit, I can feel itWhen I rememberMother saying, But he’s a miracle, whenThe doctor said, He has 48 hours. Desert Poems I have some artwork I want to sellPaintings, I’ve been making some real nice…
Poetry by Philip Schaefer: “Radial Glow”

In the America of my fistthe rats drew blood. You let them. You soaked mewith hydrogen saying don’twince, become. I am still not your motherfucker.The coal train gliding by in the mirrorof your eyes is lost in 2 directions. This is my mouth on drugs: graba shovel and dig. Say somethingcruel and watch it dissolve.…
Poetry Comic by Patrick Williams: “Redactions”

*Ed.’s Note: click images to view larger sizes. Patrick Williams is a poet and academic librarian living in Central New York. His recent work appears in publications including Vinyl Poetry, Nine Mile Magazine, Posit, and Bennington Review. His chapbook Hygiene in Reading was released by Publishing Genius in 2016. He edits Really System, a journal…