Author Archives: voicemailpoems

by Maggie Su I hate to tell you this, but you’ve been obsolete for years.Everyone knows all the numbersto all the telephones in the world;this knowledge is a part of breathingnow. If I wanted to, I could call the mother of every single manI ever fucked or fuckedover. Operator, tell meif blowing hot air on a mountaincanContinue reading “Operator”

by Brenda Snyder like a murder or a bad paint job I am cracked tiles and loud neighbors I am the reason you stand empty,no one looking to call you home. I am a fixer-upper,a project you’ll want to fix my broken partsbut you won’t have the funds I’m that car you take to getContinue reading “I Will Decrease The Property Value Of Your Heart”

by Roshan there was a violent dog rainbow the day you left. some dogs fell out of the rainbow and yipped and barked and cried real hard on their way down. a few bounced around at first because they were wearing rubber shoes. but most of the dogs had red balloons tied to their bellyContinue reading “Dog Rainbow”

by Orooj-e-Zafar someday when the horizon tilts to submissionand takes one final look at the earthcrumbling beneath its toes,I will find it in this tectonic chest,brightening without your filth to taint it,to let yougo i will find itin the sponge of my rib cageto look at you withoutcringing away,to renew my bloodexcluding you.i will findContinue reading “To Dad, An Overdue ‘It’s Okay’”

Orooj-e-Zafar Roshan Brenda Snyder Maggie Su Faye Chevalier Samantha Kennedy William Ward Butler Lydia Armstrong Sugar le Fae catch business Maya Owen Martha Grover Christian J. Collier C. Russell Price Melodic Rose RJ Walker Mo Fowler Dan Gutstein Logen Cure

by Jessie Lynn McMains You don’t owe it to anyoneto age gracefully. You’venever been good at grace,anyway. You sucked atballet. What you aregood at is being a hotmess. Like me. And ifI’ve learned anything, it’sthat you’ve gotta knowyour strengths. Besides,graceful is boring. Whowants to go gentle intosome respectable middleage, where you sit aroundshaking your headContinue reading “Over Cocktails, Courtney Love Tells Me About Aging”

by Misha Brandon Speck you will wake up on your 23rd birthdayhumming that middle school pop-punk song remembering the autumn leaves crackling underneath your skateboard wheels. you will insist the world will be yours someday,the gravity of youth sendingthe CD skipping in rhythm with the bouncing backseat of the bus,the rhythm and chorus catching you in its brake. youContinue reading “23”

by Rachel Dunkel Sunset, my apologies, but I cannot be bothered to visit tonightas I am busy vomitingup last night’s macabre radianceinto the toilet—a sunset reflection in its own right. I saw a snap of you in between hurls that made me stop for a minuteto consider alternate itineraries—a parent shown a videoof their child’s missed recital. Sunset, if IContinue reading “In Which Sunset Drinks Me Under the Table Again”

by Laura part I: day one and confession sun andwine stained seatsand your undividedyour wholly-dividedyour holy, divided attention and warmthand grassand your warmthand my embarrassing desiresshameful in light of your apathy.you can care less than me you say something meanI can’t help but laughbecause you are a child or you are crazybecause I don’t believeContinue reading “text exchange”

by Megan Merchant The child, up all night, won’t take my breast. Hours crawl blankly, or kaleidoscope and blur. The world we share is patient, leans into softened wool we stretch long to dry. I pick from a basket of tangerine moons, soak the peels in tea,rub the warm sweetness along his spine, pile little graves of coffee grounds for the day-garden,Continue reading “Blank Slate”