by Hanna Webster

“I lick her palm, which tastes like mercy, her grooved heartline ensnared by the pathetic molecular boundary of her flesh. What a shame. I smell fear radiate from her hair like steam”

by Andy Huy Le

“the blinds / keep the light away / but if you look close enough / in the moments when they are vulnerable / they show their ridges / decals / embossing / of flora / plastic / and / always / blooming”

by Alice Blackwell

“Growing up, bicycle riding seemed like a rudimentary skill / Instead, I developed my own LLC to diagnose, treat, and mend wounds / My healing abilities emerged at 8 / Far too young to understand my parents’ wrongdoings, but too naïve to say no”

by Piper Rasmussen

“The vision of a Queen appears (see also: milagro, fantasma) / ‍as if from the center of a fluffy white cloud / (see also: oscurecida, desaparecida)”

by Wayne F. Burke

“A man calls “come / when I call” and / a small boy comes running.”

by Jade Kleiner

“…my eyes droop. my soul droops, / but my toes in their shoes do not. / every toe is agitated, ready to run…”

by Madeline Blair

“very quietly say: i am spinning / and no one can stop me. dizzy invitations / to staple yourself to the bed in remission / just waiting for 2 no 7 days until the tachycardic / tremble ceases, third prescription of a no-refill”

by Scott C. Holstad

“they said i took shit too seriously, / that my name is Mister Devil, / a most serious Satanist.”

by Joe Pagano, Jr.

“That night you plucked the red words / from my mouth like berries in the wild / and found a place for them in your breast…”

by Liz Mariani

“This Buffalo pizza sweats lakes of golden grease / Like proud parents / We glaze lovingly into these tiny bowls / Liquid copper pepperoni peace”

by Crystal James

“Today, I celebrate my inner child / Her strength and resilience / Her messy hair and shy voice / Her dirty feet and fearless climb / Her vigilance / Her hope / Her love for red poppies in August”

by Pawel Markiewicz

“The spiderweb adorned dainty tavern. / The spider slept immensely, such eagle owl. / The parrot longed for a native distance. / In its eyes a dreamery of moon and cage.”

by Loel Earl

“If I had a nickel / for every time / I had a tumid erection / on an airplane, / I'd have the necessary funds to / purchase a plane…”

by Shon Mapp

“…your nightshade skin / seems so smooth, / taut. My teeth long / to pierce it. Lessen / this buffer of air / between us.”

by E. G. Ware

“‘she’s such a good baby,’ my mother says, present and bright…’she never cries,’ my father says, as the wine climbs red, ‘we forget she is there, she’s feather and light,’ no crying, only the soft unscroll of a ribcage…”

by Tempest Miller

“…arriving with a mahogany scent / with bells / with a birthmark / a crown of bones…”

by Craig Constantine

“Love at last sight, / Valedictorian of the first. / The eyes of experience, / Elegiacally taking their leave. / And the eyes of innocence, / Waking up to the erotic.”

by Bill Neumire

“[Jesse] just got a senior lecturer position at Cornell and he gets to teach a class on happiness, which is a secular replacement for god.

by Philip Venzke

“…that overly extended siren wail / was so loud it woke up the over-ripe banana /hibernating on a cigarette encrusted sidewalk.”

by Frank Haberle

“Come, children, the man standing on a box / In the center of the bridge yelled to us, / In Shakespeare. Let us shut up this box / And put away these puppets, for our play / Has been played.”