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
-
![]()
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…”
-
![]()
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…”
-
![]()
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.”
-
![]()
her taco tasted like rain
by Catfish McDaris
“Her freckles were devil’s kisses / showering down from purgatory.”
-
![]()
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…”
autocartographies
by Eva Alter
“…tunnel-visioned wisps of reality
hold me steady I see little and feel
everything…”
three poems
by Candice M. Kelsey
“first burst of color, strange life each morning, / first song of light home each evening, / what awaits me on the other side / of a metal screen door double locked”
three visual poems
by R. Gerry Fabian
“…survival / sometimes / depends / on who / knows the / depth of hunger.”
Excerpts from Novel Lines 101 (a work-in-progress)
by Stephen Bett
“(When they cut off your service, they mean it,” hon)”
five poems
by Strider Marcus Jones
“…those leaves on the pavement / rejected with resentment / turning brown / no history written down.”
an inquiry into the death of pan
by Matthew DeLuca
“I heard his voice as they closed the books on him: How interesting, he said. How interesting.”
three poems
by Joshua Martin
“between LaRkS: visions / repellent ontological / marching = [hoofs] / [ducks / silk TuNNeLs], / ; ; ; ; ; | ‘what soft embers strain like passenger / sublimity’ | ; ; ; ; ; = = = = = > combing JellY”
the antinomian fire this time
by Ron Whitehead
“The bone man dances circles / round the subterranean gloom”
milgrytoel
by Simon Collinson
“Who ittee naarvy bas lippings of jellied wellypelly and neepled litilats…”
the disappearance of the ginger tabby and the unraveling of mrs. macdonald
by Jordan Trethewey
“Sometime after her hard military man died, / the old widow next door began to lure / neighbourhood pets to her unused red barn.”
ressurection (upon an incident of dying birds, midwest usa, spring 2023)
by Keith Hoerner
“No lift / Force / No air - / Foil.”
six poems
by David L O’Nan
“I have tonight, the stars wounded in saltwater tongues / Can’t hear the whispering with the static of waves in constant battle.”
your brainstem at 4 a.m.
by Mark Belair
“uspecting
you’re an extra in your life / others play the leading roles / your credit at the end
will read / waiter #4”
four poems
by Chuck Kramer
“Entrepreneurs and businessmen / whose humanity was silenced / by ambition and empty wallets, / they took solace in devil whiskey…”
crow’s breakfast
by L. Ward Abel
“blood-red crows / gorge / on a shining / mid-air / breakfast.”
working two
by Thomas M. McDade
“Pregnant and tattooed / Apron full of bucks…”
now don't you feel base, or for coarser beauty
by Mark Parsons
“Beauty that makes you want to vomit like the smell of vomit makes you want to vomit…”
full circle
by Sanjeev Sethi
“serenity is my surround sound. / I have opted to go earless.”
dread hallelujah zombie love
by R.M. Engelhardt
“After the smoke / The clouds evaporate / The radiation descends / Upon the one & all / The rich & poor”
three poems
by Edward Lee
“I gave an opinion / to the gods of nothing, / their anger a bitter wind / that makes my eyes water…”