Three Poems // Sharmila Seyyid
Three Poems
“I Am Composing a Song”
”Incompatible”
”That Ancient Village”
Clearing Out My Mother’s Home // Rohan Buettel
The bowl perfectly new
in a cupboard full of things unused,
bought in anticipation
of a grandchild never delivered
Art // Terry Jude Miller
that’s one of the things it does
makes you think one thing
that leads to another thing
and soon the meadow is full
While You Were Away // Erin Olds
and sometimes I got cozy in a cold shower, afraid
of the air outside waiting to wrap around wet skin. And after,
I’d leave the lights on each night. You weren’t home,
and I would think, safe is a pretty term, a feeling to dream.
She Has Notifications Silenced // Will Neuenfeldt
She Has Notifications Silenced
One purple crescent
sent into sky
where my blue cloud
wafts above, alone,
aware it’s been seen
yet lingers to be heard.
Ode to Boy in Nightclub // Zoe Antoine-Paul
All I want is to keep you,
but you are still on the dance floor
and New York City feels like coming down.
Boardwalk Soda Fountain Shop // LindaAnn Loschiavo
I watched as you’d extend a palm beneath
A ripe banana, tenderly, as if
To ask permission. Or you’d let me tuck
Wildflowers into cleavage held aloft,
Slick, sweaty, suntan oiled, flecked with sand crumbs.
Raised by Wolves // Travis Stephens
I shiver, understand as always
my teeth rotted and dull.
Even my father, that son of a bitch,
kept his bite until the end.
After the Relapse // Cat Dixon
I will never know the zaftig bosom of a mother during a fever, incessant nag, the body swap, the unconditional love. We both lacked what we both lacked—both pulled into a whirlpool
French Impressionists // Matthew Ellis
French Impressionists
I’ll plunge into the Loing or the Seine itself,
into ultramarine and cobalt blue
I’ll wade into the waters of Giverny,
lie amongst the water lilies
madder red and cadmium yellow against emerald,
violet waters
No Reason to Get Up but Get Up // Yvonne Morris
No Reason to Get Up but Get Up
hallowed and hollowed, richly bred for pain—
Anne and Sylvia shared a New York taxi in the rain,
discussed therapy and where they’d left their latest
lipstick stains.
Seeing It // Thomas Osatchoff
Seeing It
stacking boxes again
this realization the burning
bush this moment this you me
I Lied When I Said That I Missed You // Eleanor Claire
I Lied When I Said That I Missed You
and yes, I love this life that I have
built, slow mornings and love that keeps
me warm, but a thrum beneath my
breastbone may always sing
for the chaos that I learned to call
home, for that eternal yearning
for something, anything to burn
She Wolfs // Sandra Kolankiewicz
She Wolfs
She waves to them, smiles even in her sleep,
never learned to cook, lost her hair in
menopause, uses a cane for mushroom
hunting even when on wet days the tip
sinks in with the weight of her limp till she’s
bound to fall on the soft ground, lying in
wet leaves and giggling like a girl.
Horizon Saber // Anna Idelevich
Horizon Saber
Cold in December, dry up, but flared up with the fire of love, dancing bud catches the rain and knows that there is no death. It melts with moisture on the tongue and the gums are his bed. Probably there is no beach, probably there is only one blizzard in my head.
Buttons I Keep // Laine Derr
Buttons I Keep
I still have
glimpses of her -
mouth wiped
on a soiled sleeve
Today // Kory Vance
Today
today, i am unemployed for the sake of bitter rest, sat at
a bar drinking my savings, considering the chattering
through my spine that might happen
if i place a blue lilly in someone’s
hair, the woman who is still
my secret
To Whom or What or Where // Shyla Shehan
To Whom or What or Where
It’s been low tide
for a while, the beach
parched. Seagulls search
for salvation from starvation
Two Poems // Jack Phillips
Two Poems
As with all creatures the flow of my veins carries a measure of tears in the flat hand of night but in this light the daybreak wears the skin of my dreams and holds me, not without her own sadness