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
job creator heaven
by GRSTALT Comms
“the individual is free to decompose however they see fit the word has been compromised to a permanent end beaten to a pulp by the new literary outlaws…”
waterline
by Eva Alter
“…eyes peeled for errors in transmission I matched my breath to water’s pulse…”
amor y las chuparosas (love and hummingbird charms)
by Jordan Trethewey
“‘Divine hummingbird enrich my life and love, so that my lover will want only me.’ -anonymous prayer.”
the wasteling
by Michael Borth
“In the coffee aromatics of teacher / And office. Of classroom and marijuana car. Stilted in / The energetic wasteling chant was torn from the magnet / To strum infinite mirror tunnels.”
four poems
by Brad Rose
“Of course, it’s all Greek to me, but thanks to the gravity of the situation, what goes up, must come down. We must imagine Sisyphus, light-headed, giggling.“
five poems
by Emily K. Sipiora
“I am rotating in the hot / deli case at the gas station / Searing all good / overcooked”
three poems
by Howie Good
“My face twists into the anguished expression Christ wears on wall crucifixes – but, of course, without my being worshipped and adored.”
a swimmer within sight of his moon
by L. Ward Abel
“I’m a tree frog latching there / onto a glass sky…”
five poems
by Carla Sarett
“she steals a drugstore red lipstick / called Fire and Ice or Cherries in the Snow / runs down Broadway in red stilettos / dips into a sexy red Corvette…”
three poems
by Jason Davidson
“for every one balloon I’ve loved, a thousand more have popped like winter bones.”
a raker of dust, a rattler of bones
by R.M. Engelhardt
“The prophets / Have left the building.”
two poems
by Joe Amato
“where ascent began / in this once rumored brothel, / my sophomore residence, / now budget hotel. / I held a fourth floor key, / but walked two flights…”
four poems
by Steven Bruce
“Because it was cheaper than therapy. / Because sleep never came alone. / Because she left him for a better man. / Because the bottle felt lighter than guilt.”
five poems
by Mark Young
“It doesn’t suddenly / fall into place… / Rather, small pieces, frag- / ments of a template, shaken / loose by the coughing fits / that wake you every / hour… / …Sort of like / the leftovers from / a bad acid trip…”
five poems
by Rose Knapp
“All sense of self dissolves / Time moves very slowly / Bad trips can make / Paranoia intense…”
of wars and divorce
by Dario Cvencek
“a clusterfuck of decency / a shitshow of humanity / a bankruptcy of morality…”
an exhibition in crucifixes
by Tempest Miller
The Greek god of wine and ecstasy is on the cross in the drawing room. / The Silenus is in fetters at Halcyon Gallery. / Photocopies of Nietzsche’s letters signed, / der Gekreuzigte / lay on the varnished table.”
the chromium parlors
by Michael Borth
“When all borders become one. Decisions of the / Barbiturate nocturnals. I remove the goldpowder / from the plate of cranium silver. To better evaluate / the heaving of the wind.”
three poems
by Ron Tobey
“Spring begins a poor beggar / clothes torn, thread-bare / bruised, scabbed skin / hungry, unhealthy, thin / though ambitious.”
three visual poems
by László Aranyi
“sea answers / the questions of fish / not the mainland”