by DJ Leary VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Punctuation Like Borders" by DJ Leary Recently, I’ve seen writers taking upthe semicolon as a kind of totem.The comma’s less popular older brotherwho’s really into objectivist literature,WWII specials, and Dungeons & Dragons.Relic from a past generation, thisplucky punctuation is determinedto stage a comeback.“Make semicolons great again!” Its purpose isContinue reading “Punctuation like Borders”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
No Longer Boys
by Jonathan Fletcher VOICEMAIL POEMS · "No Longer Boys" by Jonathan Fletcher After the funeral of our former classmate, wegathered at the playground of our old school,where we once frolicked about as boys.Struck by how small it now appeared,we, though grown, surely looked the same.O, what happened to those young men,who propelled themselves down theContinue reading “No Longer Boys”
I’m No Good at Small Talk
by Nadyja von Ebers VOICEMAIL POEMS · "I'm No Good at Small Talk" by Nadyja von Ebers My whole life, a series of lovespells I refuse to reverse, bound forever to each and everylover, infinite marriages spun like DNA helices,like cotton candy. If I ever loved youI still love you and my god, can IContinue reading “I’m No Good at Small Talk”
Roadside Crucifixes
by Brian Duran-Fuentes VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Roadside Crucifixes" by Brian Duran-Fuentes Roadside crucifixes,Bleaching incandescent,Glowing, all September long.True, the dead rise early,But they have nowhere elseTo roam around these days.Hell is too gentrified,Heaven is a share timeAdvertised in doujinEzekiel never wrote.Seven steps, eight maybe,Is all they can affordTo lease around their grave.Amber marigold vendors,Hyped-up, cheapened folklore.TheirContinue reading “Roadside Crucifixes”
Self as Context
by Jack Sadicario VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Self as Context" by Jack Sadicario Today I had the thought that I hadKeys and a car, and a tiny bit of moneySince we haven’t split the mortgage yetAnd I’m behind on paying my bills Which means I could just goA birthday party balloon no longer tetheredTo the fenceContinue reading “Self as Context”
In Which You Are the World’s Oyster
by Nat Raum VOICEMAIL POEMS · "In Which You Are the World's Oyster" by Nat Raum my calling was to be shucked, shelldiscarded like a skinny dipper, porous shieldpried apart for meat, never pearls— never was there freshwater pure enoughfor grit to taste like sugar, for precious stonesto fall like teeth in the same kindContinue reading “In Which You Are the World’s Oyster”
Love Poem at the End of a World
by Charlie Glick VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Love Poem at the End of a World" by Charlie Glick for Evelyn We came back to the citywith the desert on our skin, dustedwith the light that curvesacross the granite back of the Mojave,the kind of light you can smell.That night I dreamed I stoodbeneath the grandmother tree,theContinue reading “Love Poem at the End of a World”
Track: “More Than a Woman,” Aaliyah
by Arianne Elena Payne VOICEMAIL POEMS · “Track: ‘More Than A Woman’, Aaliyah” by Arianne Elena Payne like the meat of a mango,i offer a proposition. i’ll give you the sweetest parts: waist of my neck,bridge of my laughter, coat of my inner thigh, shield of my intimacy.like the meat of a mango, i stickContinue reading “Track: “More Than a Woman,” Aaliyah”
Tiny Bones
by Christie Valentin-Bati VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Tiny Bones" by Christie Valentin-Bati Christie Valentin-Bati is (unofficially) a suburban kid from Florida now mostly grown up. Officially, she is a multi-genre writer and photographer interested in the everyday/mundane. Her work has received honorable mention in the 2022 and 2021 Academy of American Poet’s Poetry Contest, has beenContinue reading “Tiny Bones”
O(r)bit
by Daisy Clar Rosenstock VOICEMAIL POEMS · "O(r)bit" by Daisy Clar Rosenstock The next evening, I wake,still in mourning under thatafternoon’s thumb. “We arestrange creatures,” you said,“like Robert Grenier’s CICADA.”A whine in the late summer,blue and bright. A hollow skincrushed underfoot, here yetvery much there. Spring springsunderneath the down comforter—the hyacinths trying to growout ofContinue reading “O(r)bit”