December Contributors
Cynthia Atkins, Lydia Rae Bush, Mitch Christensen, Jesse Darnay, Angel T. Dionne, R.M. Engelhardt, Jones Erwin, James Henlon, John Jeffire, Ingrid Marie Jensen, Patrick Johnston, Justin Karcher, Craig Kirchner, Thomas McDade, Catfish McDaris, Frederick Pollack, Nick Power, henry 7. reneau, jr., Ron Riekki, Mykyta Ryzhykh, William Taylor, Jr., Rodrigo Toscano, James Fleet Underwood, Grady VanWright, Philip Venzke, Emma Wells, Von Wise
Poetry
December Highlights
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dreaming of horses
by by Ingrid Marie Jensen
“…bright horses, bolting in from the blue / and I know that’s borderline / affirmations written on the mirror in lipstick…”
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through the cubes
by Grady VanWise
“You blink and now she's dressed in shadow, / a shroud of midnight, / with flickers of neon red pulsing underneath, / veins of pure electricity…”
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love poem
by Von Wise
“Off in the distance, the village pervert / watches us making love / in the afternoon heat. We regard him / as harmless, the way we'd regard a dog / or bird and continue with our wet return / into one another.”
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her taco tasted like rain
by Catfish McDaris
“Her freckles were devil’s kisses / showering down from purgatory.”
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homopteran pandernos/ : a sociopathy sequestered in place
by henry 7. reneau, jr.
“rage that plummets our bodies moan/hearted / to the intrusion of it all . the nihilistic poltergeist…”
two poems
by Wayne Mason
“…and without / that flower of / hope / I am coils, cogs, and gears.”
two poems
by Bruce Greenhalgh
“Rain fell / It had no choice, / what with gravity and all that.”
in air and ear
by David P. Miller
“Alive most between rain and drop, the stays between one strike, the next, each with its ear-beat.”
boom-boom-boom
by Dario Cvencek
“the buzzing of the city – paused!
the chirping of the birds – paused!
the laughter of the children – paused!”
three poems
by M. Kelley Peach
“The chorus of Mr. Ford’s / Children sing a song of sorrow. / A dirge voiced in screeching rubber tones.”
three poems
by Brandon Shane
“I touch his cheek, / and he emerges after a decade / consuming the roots of his daydreams…”
five poems
by Cody Cook
“Some take the blood as ink, / To write what they cannot know- / A grief they hold no claim to.”
grimso tale to outlast fear
by Zev Levinson
“Children bestride pulsation evernigh Slickening eyebeams betray such wonderfolk Tender this expedition innocent and scarred Outlasting fear as Echidius Stumple did”
three poems
by Stephen C. Middleton
“So, tonight we dance / In the town under the mountain / & tomorrow / …all fall down.”
two poems
by Strider Marcus Jones
“drinking absinthe together, hand rolling and smoking cigars- / being is, what it really is…”
a poet’s path
by Ron Whitehead
“Make love with thunder, / laugh with the roaring wind.”
smokestack
by Noll Griffin
“There’s a hollow in the sofa that can still support a shadow…”
five poems
by Conor Hultman
“…no shoes or socks at the scene / dense woods near interstate 65 / he is known to authorities as woody"
momma said be nice
by Chris Kads
“When the men retire / so do the rules / instilled by their mothers.”
four poems
by Philip Venzke
“Labyrinths razed underground. / Contortions on the blacktop / create an ancient, lost alphabet; / speak an unspoken language.”
we stitch ourselves like bridges
by DW Baker
“We say nothing / but the rumbling of wheels on concrete…”
two poems
by rob mclennan
“Sleep, into. The objects one might soothe. Emerge, if you can. If you will. Irregular, a single centre.”
the spiritual and the profane
by Tempest Miller
“All the apprentices I keep are STEM and therefore a bunch of elbowing pricks.“
the hotel galvez
by Grady VanWright
“Join us," they murmur, / voices hollow as seashells held to dead ears, / a chorus of futures washed away.”
two poems
by Christian Garduno
“I pressed flowers for you / maybe they’ll get half of what you say / seventy-five years from now.”