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…”
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…”
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”