by Geoffrey Aitken

“it was said his hat rested / on the hook by the door. / convenience, / might have been why.”

by Emma Johnson-Rivard

“We were abandoned to our mantras. / You know, like a bomb.”

by Tempest Miller

“Soho shakes as he walks through / combat boots, Carnaby street, leather jacket / his collar turned up leaning on the black bollard…”

by Francesca Leader

“…it sounds like you, sliding / into my dark bed, matching your/soft metal to my / tender ore, the safety of a door *clicking* shut—fit / tight, world contained.”

by William Teets

“Some wayward detachment tries to change his providence by texting with Satan. Seeks true love—the kind you find spray-painted on overpasses, carved into bark—to modify his heart, heal his Lonely Avenue blues.”

by Noah Berlatsky

“The potato chip does not have dominion over me. / I have dominion over the potato chip!”

by John Jeffire

“A Navy machinist’s mate second class, he died on November 24, 1943, when his ship the USS Linscome Bay was torpedoed by a Japan submarine. He was 22.”

by Jacob Butlett

“Growing weary, I continue writing words: / unthumbed magazines, dusty side tables, fake petunias / in plastic pots—too many petals to count.”

by Jonathan Chan

“i have mastered the contours of this island. / i have made straight the crags of its coast. / i have removed water from the salt of the sea. / i have burned everything to the fecundity of dust.”

by john compton

“—the neurologist explains: / nerves / in your nose / remember something dead / & the putrid scent / are their memories…”

by Jeffrey Zable

“Receiving a call on my landline from some realty guy, he says, / ‘I heard that you’re interested in selling your house. Could you / please answer some questions. . .’”

by Shaylynn Marks

“Arms lifted, he commands, “Have Miss Marks blow.” / In that deep, Appalachian twang—native to West Virginia./ I said, “of course, your majesty” with a wink / And a curtsy, I blew the little Jail in West Virginia down.”

by Christopher Jones

“You say my name and I appear / faster than a speeding bullet: / “Superman, save me! / Superman, save me more! / Superman, I’m not a racist, but…”

by Eva Alter

“Thirteen     degrees separate me     from     ruin Russian nesting years      folded        away in abnegation…”

by Frank William Finney

“He stalked their schools / and then turned tail — / a trail of Ahabs / in his wake.”

by Wayne F. Burke

“Add a comma, throw in a dash, use an ellipsis whenever you do not know where to go...”

by James Benger

“Raindrops spackle the windshield, / and the sky goes prematurely twilight./ Well this is bullshit," Mom says. / Sometimes we agree.”

by Simon Collinson

“Swinging and slapped cos punky said I’d stamped on a spider. That wasn’t kind. Now the screaming head is cross and determined to teach all about kindness.”

by Howie Good

“Cover your Webcam with tape. You aren’t invisible. The black dots in the distance may be evil angels on the wing, and it’s still only the afternoon.”

by L. Ward Abel

“I sit here inside of now. / A ceiling fan wheels to a blur.”