The Conversation The head of the stranger I sat across from disappeared then reappeared then disappeared then and so on. I continued talking and listening to the head even when it wasn’t the voice continued to travel toward from above the and I did not let on that anything strange may be maybe a migraine-induced hallucination that head thought putting me in her place … Continue reading Two Poems by Suzanne Wise
Lapping City I walked across an endless square and saw myself walking The people in morning come and by evening walk back across bridges The water, everywhere lapping at souls, no cars’ machinery Sounds, winch turning, a motor, voices Memo Oar Lisp Ostrich above punched equilibrium accosted fabric tithe emit sequence register launching hunch thimble reason pressure … Continue reading Two Poems by Vincent Katz
Lost and Found You find yourself quite comfortable in the bony clothes of death, though you seem to have lost the feeling of, well, feeling. Light moves through you easily and eerily, as though life were a window that was broken when you found it so you can admire without shame its fracture-stars that never set, though you find you get a little lost when … Continue reading Three Poems by Joy Ladin
from The Seam Perhaps a sungrazer cleaved into chunks— does the ice at the center persist in some other state like us never bother to melt Will we vaporize as completely transformed by the shock of ravaging atmosphere especially here where a fringe of tamped-down grass surrounds a field sown with untenable seed unbecoming hailed down upon now by the pitted blisterhot … Continue reading Three Poems by Shanna Compton
Us of Anna sometimes, you’d like to is bigger than bank accounts, or desire thereof, accumulation of which in the absence of it seems enough delusions to be equal sum of some spectacular, etc. yet, ponds are made motives necessity to emulate with held hands, entertained turtles on a log, girl’s laugh, us of Anna sun shifts branches smile from in but each … Continue reading A Poem by Steven Karl
from **Pink Adrenaline Star** 1 Fifth plateau everything was gold rhizome hu vibrational still you’ve had bad 2004 slim pickens aging young rebel trio and was fixing the place city of because most Flash the horizon events that occurred cornbread croutons Anonymous waltz SynthCoke low membrane the subtle vibrations lunapark mix and the by your pen et tu his mother is beats and … Continue reading Three Poems by Christina Strong
from Left Having Which would not be grown together That one foot now is one foot then And would not be grouped further Regardless of the research that had been done But what happened was further And would not be grouped together That what happened would not be further And would not be grouped together And … Continue reading A Poem by Jesse Seldess
Oyelet You were sure about the street. It had overwhelmed written all over, or the sharp edge of civilization. Pretty new. State-wide enforcement of fair weather or yellow weather jackets led us all to the hidden love scene in some cave, and on our way, you remind me of manstrength. You need that to uproot. The man with your last job is especially proud of … Continue reading A Poem by Kelsa Trom
Today We made collages Orchid hats with little plum mouths Waxy arms bending towards hips Dancers in wide white pants Gallantly walking towards the park My memories of summer unwinding Meticulous spinning Cayuga Way, Keats Road… Driving from one dead person to another The circle rotating, creating an endless blue vacuum Is it a secret hiding place? What is there under your wallpaper? A … Continue reading A Poem by Christine Shan Shan Hou
from HERA CALF SET CLAY FOG you are afraid of the tunnel the Golden Nugget is a ferry to Puget Sound, Henry is a steamboat captain who drives the Cape May Ferry to Delaware unless it switches a different course & then in Maine the solar body unexpected in the waves, he’s Jesus & King John cooked him a mud pie … Continue reading Six Poems by Debrah Morkun
Beating Due Headfakes A window or an asp will show you where you took your wrong turn. Neptune has certain objects that we possess, as fellows of the universe, but now is not the time to claim them. Nor is it the time to let Neptune know we are cohabitants. In time, in time. Hands agree to write as we get smarter, even as the … Continue reading Three Poems by Matthew Rotando
THE BARN PARTY No one came under leaves drenching plastic cups lit up over- passes pissing thrills a ragged border, call it Texan lace God bless this memory hole hot set top warm soaps animals out race streets closed off locked with shops so they can paste new tip cup jokes the first last days. Prepare soups in the reference section, painkiller sting … Continue reading Four Poems by Chris Hosea
Tau(gh)t for madeline I go back to that no and I sing from it. I practice epilogue: needlethreadepi- thelium. As what constitutes mean is the variance. Perhaps I fly hollow. Into some you, then. And rest. And where will the drama queen darling? My tongue is thin without your tongue to build a team on. Because we have been there, dear Ranger. Let … Continue reading Poetry by TC Tolbert
from Fieldnotes, a forensic Ethnographic frailties or the failing of fieldnotes. Trying ruminations troubling my informants: (some) other ill-powerful society. I felt a responsibility to revise “my village” and to “get it right.” They were really my best draw unveiling their secrets. The conflicted piecing of voices. Contexts. Aristocratic clans. The women “animals” admitted to quotation marks. Academic mentors stress objectivity Authoritarian regimes control … Continue reading Three Poems by Kate Eichhorn
BP If I set my blackberry at ‘normal’ what will I get besides a paler icon on its screen that’s silent and that seems weird who taught their students to never say weird. I’d be speechless so much of the time. In fact ‘weird’ is the mitten I keep my normal in so there. The bottom line’s gotta be class I write in this … Continue reading A Poem by Eileen Myles
THE STREET “The populist slogan ‘Save Main Street not Wall Street’ is…totally misleading…it overlooks the fact that what keeps Main Street going under Capitalism is Wall Street.” – Slavoj Zizek when people refer to The Street they only mean one street the one with the wall at the end it’s the only street left in the universe that’s real the others almost as famous one … Continue reading Three Poems by Jerome Sala
Eight Distinctions For the lucky few there is no tomorrow, only the day after You may not see it coming, only what’s here already In the class on market values, I am the one who pays attention Of the two you meet in the road, I alone tell the truth Fear they’d lived with was in their faces so you couldn’t tell them apart Remember … Continue reading Five Poems by Vyt Bakaitis
A Poem for You I wanted to write a poem so full of spirit-lite™ that my father would finally like it, that would bring him easy peace. I wanted to write a poem so wise, yet tailored for one sitting that even Mom would understand, and say: Yes, in that way women agree with each other about how their husbands are just so messy … Continue reading Two Poems by Ana Božičević
The Moms after Kristen Hatch The moms think they are prettier than other moms underdogging swings. The moms are dough- rise perky and kind of definitely smell like dominant. The moms care about unique and revolutionary folding systems, but maybe they don’t really. It only took four hours to knit this sweater, the moms say. The moms say your kid punched playground. You might … Continue reading Two Poems by Melissa DeGezelle
On the Island of Adopted Children I. Things no one talks about: Family resemblance The seashore at dusk The cost of gasoline II. A fetus Floating slick in expectation How can it know that island folk Stand three deep on the beaches Rolling “mother,” “father,” “child” around on their tongues. III. How to get there: Load your cargo Climb into your canoe Paddle … Continue reading A Poem by Sarah E. Chinn