Category Archives: Uncategorized

by Nico Wilkinson it’s one a.m.sleepers surround me on the train,their shadows shining in the windows. we are all tinted by night, and iam glowing in the cell phone backlight, and iam trying to betray what i am reading on the screen: you stupid bitchget home nowor i’ll kill you but this is just anotherContinue reading “the train: a portrait of four of my lovers”

by Paulie Lipman I knowthe fanciest car at my funeralwill be the one I’m in Coffinscavenged plank/plywoodbonus for graffiti just, pleaseno Ikea My second line:rummaged oil drumscoffee can guitarssolar powered samplers the most joyous broken beatspraise shouts/metal/punk/funkgutbucket blues/goth/klezmerone last glorious dissonance Stop the processionbefore me/the hearsego over the cliffCadillac pyre/nothingfor the carrions/youcan’t be thrown toContinue reading “DIRGE”

by Katie Clark which means i am here which means i am where it happened which means something not unlike a scar. i am here and i am awake and i think okay: this is unbelievable. this is almost disappointing / a bruise fading and maybe today is made of noncolors and maybe i amContinue reading “it is raining in new england”

by Ry Irene If I could be any toy in the worldI’d be Potato HeadThe original Potato Head was just plastic body parts to shove into an actual vegetableThere have been some changes since the original 1952 releaseI too, have undergone some changes since my 1992 releaseI can’t think of a better toy for aContinue reading “Potato Head”

by Mason Hamberlin i.give me a knife, so that i may knowhow the plastic surgeon works.maybe trade a few secrets with that guy from 127 Hours,so i can rearrange the part of my brain that mistakes blade for handle. look at my hands. dont worry—ive got two. i once had a teacher who taught meContinue reading “anniversary (or a collection of metaphors relating two previously unrelated people)”

by McKenzie Chinn there are treasures at the bottom of the Atlanticthat no explorer will unsubmerge. my friends who speak so casually of their heritage do notunderstand this how i understand this. they point to pictures and paperwork and talesfrom grandmothers’ tongue that shout Ireland! shout Italy! shout conquistador!shout viking! now, i don’t need toContinue reading “african, american”

by Doug Paul Case Okay you caught me I like when boys smell like cigarettes Tell me the story of your favorite city after midnight There can be rain in the story if you want Light orchestral accompaniment if you want I mean I know you don’t but who’s talking Where would you live ifContinue reading “Blue Curtains”

by Chuck Young when i talk about your mouth i’m talking about a 35,000 year old flute made out of bird bone when i talk about god i’m talking about the joy in not-knowing when i talk about faithi’m talking about the beauty in believing when i talk about love i’m talking about the infinityContinue reading “what i talk about when i talk to myself”

by Cleveland Wall “I am robbing you,” the robber softly said, his note a cipher to the cashier, wisp of an impulse sketched in soft pencil, paper rumpled soft like flannel. Sh. “I am robbing you,” he said, wavering fuzzy on the closed circuit screen. No sound. No overt threat. The cashier might have slippedContinue reading “The Better Part of Valor”

by Emily Paige Wilson If the desert cannot be settled,let it be anxious and alert—its worrya sandstorm. Let it cover in protective dust what it loves. If the desert can’t be hospitable, let ittake solace in what it can offer: noone appreciates water without first experiencing thirst. All myths begin with dirt—let the desert rememberContinue reading “Love Spell for the Desert”